For a myriad of reasons which shall soon be made apparent,one has always held the view that in no two African countries do events replicate each other as do they in Nigeria and the Sudan.

Besides both being former British colonies,Sudan is geographically the largest country in Africa while Nigeria is Africa’s biggest country,demographically. Whilst Nigeria is the most ethnically diverse nation on the continent with over 500 ethnolinguistic groups, Sudan comes next on the heterogeneity chart with about 400 ethnolinguistic groups. Above all,in no 2 countries do the 3 political matrices of Region, Religion and Ethnicity so totally underpin national politics.

In much the same way as Northern Nigerians and Northern Sudanese are predominantly muslims with socio-cultural and politico-economic inclinations towards the Arabian world,Southern Nigerians and Southern Sudanese are mainly christians with eyes fixed on the West.

Whereas the Nuba Mountains,Abyei and southern Blue Nile areas  of the Sudanese Middle Belt have been a source of political contention between the North and South of the Sudan,the Yoruba-speaking areas of Kwara and Kogi states of the Nigerian Middle Belt are equally a source of contention between the North and South of Nigeria.

To this day,North-South relations,Muslim-Christian coexistence,oil politics,political marginalisation and Sharia law remain the most topical issues in both countries. Amazingly,both countries possess exactly the same length of coastline …853 kilometres and both produce the black gold from southern oilfields.

During colonial rule,the British administered the North and south of both countries as though they were distinct territories.In accordance with the wishes of the Emirs of northern Nigeria(a suicidal move which today sees northern Nigeria 50years behind the South educationally),the British kept Christianity and Western education out of the emirates of northern Nigeria.

Indeed,the politicians of northern and southern Nigeria first came together in a national legislature in 1946,even after the 1914 amalgamation. In the Sudan,socio-economic and political interactions between the North and the South was virtually non-existent,thanks to the British. It may be argued that the successful amalgamation of the protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914 was the precursor of the incorporation of the independent Sultanate of Darfur into the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium of Sudan in 1916!

Historically,socio-cultural and trade ties have been strong between Northern Nigeria and Northern Sudan,particularly around Kano and Bornu. For centuries, the Shuwa Arabs(who number perhaps half a million people in Adamawa,Yobe and Borno states) who are thought to have emigrated from Darfur have inhabited the area around the Biu Plateau,Mandara mountains and plains and the Lake Chad basin. There also exists a well-established Sudanese diaspora in Kano. As recently as 1900,Rabeh the son of a Darfuri Arab was temporal Lord of the Lake Chad region!

These migratory trends appear to have been influenced by the fact of Kano having been the central terminus and Bornu the eastern terminus of the Trans-Saharan trade routes. Indeed,there is a long established practice(which continues to this day) of sending children/wards of the nobility for training in Islamic law,philosophy and theology to the Sudan.This is particularly noticeable in emirates such as Kano,Katsina,Zaria,Sokoto,Adamawa and Bornu.
So,how did Nigerians end up becoming Sudanese nationals?

Traditionally,the Kano-Bornu-Darfur-Red Sea route has been used by Hausa,Fulani and Kanuri muslim faithful on pilgrimage to Mecca.Many of these faithfuls,attracted by the similarities in culture,religious practices,weather and an abundance of fertile land in the Nile Valley,settled down to farm   the land.But the greatest wave of migration lay ahead.

In the wake of the eclipse of Sokoto’s imperial glory in March 1903 on account of British imperialist aggression,the Mai Wurno,nephew of the Sultan and Protector of the caliphate’s northern frontiers fled with the Sokoto imperial standard and thousands of his followers and troops to the southernmost emirate of  Adamawa, over 1000 kilometres away.

Being well acquainted with the exploits of the Mahdist forces in the Sudan and in the belief that the Mahdi was the great liberator whose coming was foretold in the Holy Book,the Mai Wurno and by some accounts,over 20,000 followers began the Hijra(flight) to the Sudan where they ultimately settled down close to the Khartoum-Omdurman area in a settlement which to this day is known as Mai Wurno and whose inhabitants retain their Hausa-Fulani heritage.

Altogether,the Hausa,Fulani and Kanuri of the Sudan today number well over a million people,serving that country in the civil service,armed forces,business and most of all,providing the bulk of the farmers who till the land in that country’s food basket,the Gezira plains 

It all started when my guide and tour operator, Ahmed Taha, a Sudanese of Hausa descent, offered to take me to Abuja Market in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. Even though it was a cold day and already late (around 10pm local time), I obliged and followed him. I was curious to come across a market similar to Kano’s Kurmi Market, Kaduna’s Central Market or even Abuja’s Wuse or Garki markets.


What I saw was a different thing entirely.  I saw a vast land dotted with huts, mostly thatched. I asked Taha where was the Abuja Market? He pointed to a group of people gathered around a suya seller and said, “that is it.” I was disappointed. I told him that this couldn’t pass a common kasuwar kauye (a village market square) in Nigeria and he called it Abuja Market. Thereafter, I got to know why it was named so, among other things. That night, we bought some suya from that old Sudanese butcher whose fluency in Hausa Language  equated that of the legendary jakin Kano.


Khartoum’s Abuja Market

As a result of the cold weather and breeze, I took the suya meat but refused to take their fura da nono and went back to the hotel. Abuja Market is located in Engaz, a suburb of Khartoum. The densely populated area is not very far away from the African International University, Khartoum. The area is mainly populated by the Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri. Even though they have Nigerian descent, they are not Nigerian nationals, but Sudanese. And they take exception to whoever calls them Nigerians, which is tantamount to calling them immigrants. Most of them, their parents and grandparents, were born in the Sudan. So, they are Sudanese citizens by birth.

This reporter observed that their outlook is strictly Arabian: the usual Sudanese jallabiya (long flowing gown) and turban. Their language of communciation is  Arabic but they are blacks and Muslims. Almost all their elderly people speak fluent Hausa. “We are Hausa-Fulani of Sudan. We are Sudanese not Nigerians. Even though we are of Nigerian descent, we are not Nigerians now, we are Sudanese,” a 70-year-old Musa Ibrahim, popularly known as Musa Mai Gwaram, told this reporter during an interview. He told Sunday Trust that his family hailed from Gwaram, Jigawa State in Nigeria, but neither him nor any of his 20 children have ever visited Nigeria.

The market is made of thatched huts. There are no supermarkets or stores. Rather, it is dominated by scattered huts occupied by shoe shiners, tailors, vegetable sellers, butchers, grain sellers, petty traders (yan koli), tea sellers, among others. It was very typical of a village market in northern Nigeria. The market is at the centre of the Hausa-Fulani settlement in Khartoum, people come out to buy their daily needs. The market depicts poverty and squalor instead of opulence and prosperity as the name would suggest.

Origin

Historically speaking, socio-cultural and trade ties have been strong between Northern Nigeria and Northern Sudan, particularly around Kano and Borno before colonial times. For centuries, the Shuwa Arabs who are thought to have emigrated from Darfur, have inhabited the area around the Biu Plateau, Mandara mountains and plains and the Lake Chad basin. There also exists a well-established Sudanese diaspora in Kano. Also, the legendary Rabeh of the Kanem Borno Empire was a son of a Darfuri Arab.

These migratory trends appear to have been influenced by the fact that Kano, having been the central terminus and Borno, the eastern terminus of the Trans-Saharan trade routes. Indeed, there is a long established practice (which continues to this day) of sending children/wards of the nobility for training in Islamic law, philosophy and theology to the Sudan.  Currently, there are hundreds of Nigerian students studying at the African International University, Khartoum Nigeria, this reporter learned, has the second largest population of students in the university after Somalia, among African countries.

How Nigerians ended up becoming Sudanese nationals, Sunday Trust findings revealed, was legendary and historical. Traditionally, the Kano-Borno-Darfur-Red Sea route has been used by Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri Muslim faithfuls on pilgrimage to Mecca. Many of these faithfuls, attracted by the similarities in culture, religious practices, weather and an abundance of fertile land in the Nile Valley, settled down to farm  the land, Musa Ibrahim, a 70 year old Hausa Sudanese, told this reporter.  Currently, some Nigerians are still treading the Sudan route in their quest to reach the holy land for pilgrimage as this reporter met some of them on their way.

In the wake of the eclipse of the Sokoto Caliphate in March 1903 on account of British imperialist aggression, the Mai Wurno, nephew of the Sultan and protector of the caliphate’s northern frontiers fled with the Sokoto standard and thousands of his followers and troops to the southernmost emirate of  Adamawa, over 1000 kilometres away.

Being well acquainted with the exploits of the Mahdist forces in the Sudan and in the belief that the Mahdi was the great liberator whose coming was foretold in the Holy Book, the Mai Wurno and by some accounts, over 20,000 followers, began the Hijra (flight) to the Sudan where they ultimately settled down close to the Khartoum-Omdurman area in a settlement which to this day is known as Mai Wurno and whose inhabitants retain their Hausa-Fulani heritage.

Altogether, the Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri of the Sudan today number well over 10 million people, serving that country in the civil service, armed forces, business and most of all, providing the bulk of the farmers who till the land in that country’s food basket, the Gezira plains

Discrimination

The Hausas are mainly Muslims and are concentrated in Darfur, Blue Nile, Sinar, Eastern Sudan (Kasala), Al- Gadharif, among others. They were believed to have fought in the Mahdi’s army against the British. Currently they are estimated at approximately 10 million in Sudan.

In 2009, riots broke out after a Sudanese newspaper, Al-Ayyam published an interview it had with President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir and quoted him to have said that the Hausas are non-Sudanese and are mere immigrants on Sudanese soil. The uprising took place in Kasala and Al-Gadharif. Few days later, President Al-Bashir denied saying any of those things quoted by the newspaper.

The president was quoted saying that since Hausa-Fulani are non Sudanese, they were therefore not qualified to vote in the 2009 general elections stipulated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) adopted in Kenya which would later gave the Southern Sudan it’s independence through a referendum.

This development sparked a vigorous protest in the Hausa - Fulani communities all over the Sudan especially in the city of Al-Gadharif in Eastern Sudan. During the protests the Hausa organized a peaceful march to hand a memorandum of protest to the headquarters of the Al-Gadharif state to express their disapproval of President Al-Bashir’s reported offensive statement.

The Sudanese government forces, backed by heavy weapons, were said to have attacked the unarmed civilians and chased them into their neighbourhoods using tear gas. The result was seen in the murder of four people who were killed in cold blood and hundreds wounded and among the seriously injured were children and women and local hospitals had difficultieis coping with casualties.

After the crisis that generated serious condemnation, President Al-Bashir, Sunday Trust gathered, had to come out in the media and deny ever making such inflammatory statement; a development that later calmed the nerves of the people even though without any compensation or attempt to get any political favour. The election later took place and Al-Bashir won again.


Politics

The community is worse off politically. It was gathered that despite their numbers in Sudan, the Hausa-Fulani hardly run for any political office. “We supported Al-Bashir’s NCP for what he did to us. But even at that, you can’t really run for any office under his party. Our people were prevented from running for elections under the NCP in Al-Ghadarif. Despite our population, we can’t gun for offices at the local level,” Ibrahim Idris, a 42-year-old Hausa-Fulani said.

This frustration is aided by the fact that the authorities in Sudan have succeeded in creating disunity among the Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri communities in the country. The situation even went to the extent of bloody clashes between the communities.   “There were bloody clashes between the Hausa and Fulani in 2004 in Omdurman Fulata in Damazen and many people were killed and property destroyed due to political difference,” he said.

Attempts by the community to register its own party didn’t yield much result either. “As a result of the frustration and the divide and rule tactics of the authorities, we decided to register our political party, the Hagiga Federation Party (HFP). We contested on its platform but without making any impact. The same authorities went underground and sabotaged our efforts,” Idris lamented.

But with the independence of Southern Sudan, “things may take a new shape. The Southern Sudan provided the manpower to the Sudan military and the police and they have now separated. Khartoum had no option than to soften down, make some concessions to us so as to replace their military manpower from us, the blacks. We endure more than the Arabs do,” a source who declined being named said.

He explained that “even residents and nationality permits will be easier now. They really want to fill the vacuum created by the southerners in the armed forces. And we are the only community with the ability to provide the appropriate manpower they need. We are blacks like the southerners. They can’t go to Darfur because of the rebellion. As a Hausa-Fulani, I assure that if you stay here for 30 days, you can get these papers as a Sudanese national.  The pendulum is now swinging towards us because of the separation.”


Armed forces

The armed force is one key area in which the Hausa-Fulani are playing a significant role, Sunday Trust gathered.  There are many of them serving in the Sudanese military, the police, immigration and prison services.  Again, many of them, particularly the educated ones also serve in the country’s judiciary as judges.

According to Ibrahim Baraka, the Hausa-Fulani community leader in Engaz, their community has produced prominent personalities who occupied sensitive positions in Khartoum. He mentioned Professor Ahmad Tijjani Saleh, a former ambassador and special adviser to President Al-Bashir on commerce as one of the Hausa-Fulani of the Sudan. Others include a military officer, Adam Saleh Musa, currently serving as a presidential guard; retired General Usman Yusuf, among others.

This reporter met the presidential guard in Engaz but couldn’t extract some comments from him over the affairs of his community because of the sensitivity of the matter.  But Usman Musa Adam, a corporal in the Sudanese police force spoke to this reporter.  Corporal Adam, 38, does not know where he hails from in Nigeria. Having lost his parents at a tender age, “life became unbearable. I had to find a solution. I dropped out of school. I joined the police to make ends met by fending for myself and family members.”

Adam spent about 14 years in the police force and is now married and has four kids. “It was a wise decision joining the police. I was able to get married and continue with my education. I am now an undergraduate student, studying Islamic Studies at the African International University, Khartoum. I have no regrets,” he said.

It was gathered that there are many of the Hausa-Fulani serving in the Sudanese police force and the military. But like Adam, most of them don’t even know where their grandparents hailed from in Nigeria. In the case of Adam, he barely speaks Hausa.


Poverty

One of the recurring problems of the community is lack of economic empowerment. This was echoed by Ibrahim Idris, 42, whose grandparents hailed from Gumel, Jigawa state. He explained that they are treated as second class citizens by the Sudanese authorities. He said that though the place where they are settled now was given to them by the Al-Bashir administration, the government made no efforts to provide them with social amenities and other infrastructure.

The community has a single primary school, Ummul Mumineen built by Nigerian authorities.  This reporter also observed that there are no roads or public hospitals in the community.  Idris declared that the Hausa-Fulani community were given Engaz as a permanent abode by Al-Bashir in 1992, when they were relocated from Isheh-zango, where they lived since colonial times.

“Our problems ranged from the discriminatory trend of the Sudanese authorities. We have several youths here with certificates that include degrees and diplomas. But getting jobs for them is equal to squeezing water from stone. The Arabs don’t regard us as anything. We are discriminated against because of our colour. It is very pathetic,” Idris, a businessman complained.

He cited an instance where his brother, Al-Tash Idris, with a masters in veterinary medicine only ended up as a labourer in a diary factory. “Even at that level, the work was so frustrating that he had to leave,” he said. He alleged that there was a time he got an employment opportunity in Saudi Arabia but the Arabs blocked the chance, he said.

Sunday Trust learnt that these and other problems are brewing so much apprehension in the community. “Due to our lack of economic power and the near absence of government presence in our socio-economic and political life, our children drop out of school. You can see that we don’t have access roads, no schools; we are not covered by health insurance schemes like other Sudanese, no single public hospital in  Engaz with over 3000 housing units,” Idris said.


Social life

The first night this reporter went to Engaz, he savoured the night life of the Hausa-Fulani community. Like typical northern Nigeria, the community has a social club, called Aminci. All manner of activities are taking place in that club. The biggest attraction is the Sudanese singers. Actually, the music is Sudanese but the orchestra is Hausa-Fulani.

The leader of the orchestra, Malam Yusuf, told this reporter that he spent over three decades learning the science of the Sudanese music and he now has a specialist competence. “We converge here every evening to sing and enjoy ourselves. I have trained so many people in this profession. I am a professional singer. I have my instruments,” he said.

Apart from the singers, this reporter also met a viewing centre where the youths particularly were seen watching Hausa movies popularly known as Kannywood, Indian movies and football. There were also other groups that were grossly engaged in ludo, scrabble and chess.

Outside the premises, there were tea shops, cigarette vendors among others. It was evident that despite their problems, the Hausa-Fulani community in Engaz are happy. One thing that stood out despite their poor economic empowerment is the near absence of crime. “There are no reports of crimes and theft among other security-related problems here,” Musa Mai Gwaram, told this reporter.

The Hausa and Bargo ethnic groups of Eritrea, who collectively go by the name of "Tokharir", are Muslim people who migrated to Eritrea from Nigeria (2001, Johnathan Bascom, p. 70). Their settlement in Southwest Eritrea was associated with rising exploitation of the peasantry in Northern Nigeria and religious pilgrimages to Mecca (2001, Johnathan Bascom, p. 70). Their ancestors, who first settled in Southwest Eritrea and eastern Sudan during the late eighteenth and especially the nineteenth century (1999 Giorgio Ausenda, p. 179), were immigrants returning from the pilgrimage to Mecca who quite often brought their wives along and even begot children on the way (1999, Giorgio Ausenda, p. 179). To survive along the way, which took them several years, and pay for the Red Sea crossing, they stopped during the agricultural season and worked as farmhands or sharecroppers (1999, Giorgio Ausenda, p. 179). As a result of this sporadic immigration, estimated by Burkhardt at about 1,000 per year, there is now a large Hausa settlement in the Gash Delta (1999, Giorgio Ausenda, p. 179). Conservative estimates suggest that more than thirty thousand Hausa and Bargo ethnic groups were once living in Eritrea when conflict with Ethiopia escalated in the mid-1970s (2001, Johnathan Bascom, p. 70).

Altogether, the Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri of the Sudan today number well over 10 million people

Obiagu1:

The Hausa/Fulani in Sudan can't be 10 million in a country of 45 million.

namfav:

cool i didn't know we number that high in sudan, you learn new things everyday, northerners  are indeed adventerous, 10 million is alot, i also hear there is a hausa corner in palestine, west bank to be specific, this i heard from my friend who is palestinian (not hausa)

Obiagu1:

The Hausa/Fulani in Sudan can't be 10 million in a country of 45 million.

emofine:

Are the Hausa's in Palestine a recent migration? or did this occur many many years ago like the Hausas in Sudan?

By the way have you ever visited Sudan?

I do have a lot of questions for Northerners actually as I'm really curious about the region and the people however I would most likely create a thread - if one doesn't exist already - to ask questions, converse and learn a bit from Northerners themselves 

pleep:

Does anyone know for sure were the Hausa people originated? Or better question, were did the Fulani come from? because you guys are litterally everywhere. I heard Hausa was used as a lingua Franca as far away as zanzibar and Kenya!

Inked_Nerd:

@OP: I like your thread, it is very informative. By the way, you never clarified for me in the other thread you had on what ethnic group you were from. Would you mind telling me?

Inked_Nerd:


Oh wow, I just realized that I spoke to you on different threads on this forum before the last could of threads where I inquired about your ethnicity. So, please educate me on the Isoko people, I'd like to learn some more

Fulaman198:

First and Foremost, you guys have to realize that Hausa and Fulani are not the same thing. A lot of the Fulani that live in Sudan are Mbororo which are Nomadic Fulani, that you find here in Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Sudan.

Hausa people are plentiful in Sudan too, though I am not sure why.

Fulaman198:

First and Foremost, you guys have to realize that Hausa and Fulani are not the same thing. A lot of the Fulani that live in Sudan are Mbororo which are Nomadic Fulani, that you find here in Nigeria, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Sudan.

Hausa people are plentiful in Sudan too, though I am not sure why. But Hausas don't forget can also be found in the farther West like in Burkina Faso, Ghana, parts of Mali, and even in present day Senegal as recent immigrants. Hausa surprisingly is widely spoken even in the far west of Africa.

The Sudan diaspora of the Hausa-Fulani

The Sudan diaspora of the Hausa-Fulani people was formed, definitively, around the first decade of this century. The first settlement, Mai Wurno on the right bank of the Blue Nile, soon became prosperous enough for a few daughter communities to be established in the Gezira area, the land between the two Niles. Presently, almost all the population centers in Gezira and along the Blue Nile have a foreign quarter mainly inhabited by people of West African origin, the majority of these being Hausa-Fulanis. They are mostly sedentary.

Besides, along the pilgrimage route between West Africa and Jidda-Makka, the so-called Alhaji Highway, every town has a sizeable West African quarter, from Geneina and Nyala on the Chad border to Suakin and Bor Sudan on the Red Sea. There, some percentages of the inhabitants are constantly on the move, on the way to or back from Makka.

People in the Sudan Hausa-Fulani community call themselves tàkaarii . Singular forms are either tàkaarà or tàkùruurù , obviously derived from an Arabic denomination (sg. takruur, pl. takaarii) of the well-known Senegalese ethnic group, Tukulors. The hosts, Arab people, generally call these diaspora settlements Fellata quarters. The dominant language in the diaspora is takaaranci , /-anci/ being a Hausa suffix denoting language.

From Mai Wurno town down south to the Ethiopian border, there are quite a few populous Hausa-Fulani settlements scattered along both banks of the Blue Nile. Here in this riverine strip, the lingua franca of the diaspora is Filatanci, the Fula language. Members of the diaspora are mostly trilingual: Fula, Hausa/Takaaranci and Arabic. On the other hand, along the Alhaji Highway, the diaspora language is Hausa/Takaaranci. Transient members are usually monolingual Hausa speakers with various degrees of fluency in Arabic.

The Revival of the Fula Language along the Blue Nile

At the time of Jihad in Hausaland around the beginning of the 19th century, Fulani Jihadists had been thoroughly Hausanized already and their mother tongue was Hausa, though Usman dan Hodiyo and his children could express their thoughts in Fula. But the Fula language soon became obsolete in the Sokkoto Empire, and by the time of the last independent Sardauna, Sultan Muhammadu Attahiru II, the Fulani ruling class completely abandoned the Fula language.

Therefore, when Bello Mai Wurno, a son of Sultan Attahiru, and his followers founded the Mai Wurno town and started the Sudan diaspora, the language of the diaspora must have been Hausa. But in the present, the dominant language in the Hausa-Fulani diaspora on the Blue Nile upstream from Mai Wurno town is Fula, along with Hausa/Takaaranci.

The revival of the Fula language is very enigmatic, because the diaspora people obviously did not need to introduce a new language other than Arabic, the language of their host people. Also, there existed no Fula group in the Sudan to influence the newly established Hausa-Fulani community and to act as a model. This question was partly answered by Ibrahim Mukoshi, a grandson of Bello Mai Wurno. On the way to Gezira, the survivors spent some time in Adamawa, where the Hausanization of the Fulani rulers was not complete yet. There in Adamawa, Bello and his party were given wives and female slaves as sadaka. They continued the hijra together with these newly acquired womenfolk. These women were mostly monolingual, and spoke only in Fula. Therefore, when the second generation grew up in the Sudan diaspora, they received both their mother's language, Fula, and their father's language, Hausa. That was the way in which Fula revived in the community.

In the genre of popular history, many legends of communal foundation contain accounts of male members and female members who hail from two different ethnic groups but come to live together, due to war, slavery or natural disaster. Certainly, if the Adamawa women had not brought the language into the community, it would have been impossible to find source material for the revival of the Fula language. , 

emöfine:

I am aware that these two groups are not one and the same although in Nigeria they are often merged.

According to some reports Hausa's remained there on their way to Hajj. Besides I've often wondered about the similarities between the Hausas and their (some) Sudanese neighbours and possibly their lifestyle was attractive and familiar enough for them to stay put? . . .just an assumption. Of course I could be wrong

DanKan0:

Yes the rural fulani are more 'pure' however. The settled ones are more in number espicially In Nigeria. The settled ones are mixed. This mixture is not just in Nigeria even in Cameroon as well mixed with natives.

pleep:

Does anyone know for sure were the Hausa people originated? Or better question, were did the Fulani come from? because you guys are litterally everywhere. I heard Hausa was used as a lingua Franca as far away as zanzibar and Kenya!

DanKan0:

Might go Sudan this summer. For first hand information

But I hear theres trouble in Blue Nile. Sudan-South Sudan,

Fulaman198:

That is true, in fulfulde you have two different groups of Fulani (though I don't like using these groups).  They are the rimbe and rimaybe.  The rural Fulani like you said also referred to as Mbororo are the most pure.  The settled Fulani are mixed with Hausa and other ethnic groups in the area, but there are settled Fulani who do speak fluent Fulfulde.  In Northwest Nigeria not so much, but in Northeast Nigeria (Jos, Adamawa, Gombe, etc.) you will find Fulani who speak Fulfulde (Fulani language).

DanKan0:



North West yes because thats the 'home' of Sokoto/Caliphate. It didnt spread to North East properly before British came. So 'Hausaziation' is less. As you know anybody can be 'Hausa' in Nigeria as long as you speak language and practice culture. Its not really an 'ethnicity' as such but rather an 'identitiy'. In fact 'Pure Hausa' I dont even think there is such anymore,  Maybe in Niger but even that is not orginal 'Hausa land'. To be honest I think theres actually more 'Fulani' than Hausa in Hausa-Fulani. Where the Fulanis not more back then? its just that Hausa language was adopted,

But when people say 'pure fulani' Im not sure what that means because to me the ones in other countries all have different looks even the rural ones. Fulani appears to be 'diverse' as well if you understand what Im saying,  Is it like Hausa where anbody could have been 'Fula' or what?

Fulaman198:

Correct, even within the Fulani ethnic group, there are many sub-groups. You are right that there are more "ethnic" Fulani in the Northwest than there are ethnic Hausa, but they are Fulani who have lost their language and their pulaagu. Most Fulani who only speak Hausa in the Northwest part (sokoto region) can't even say one proper sentence in Fulfulde. It's a bit shameful.

But you know, Fulani are like that, there are even ethnic Fulani in Illori and they only speak Yoruba. Fulani, we settle somewhere and inherit the language of others (though this is not the case in other Fulani speaking countries like Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Mali, etc.).

the Jalingo Fulani that we have in Northeast Nigeria are of a Subgroup of many Fulani groups. There are Gowabe, Jelgobe, Wodaabe in Niger, Fouta Tooro/Fouta Djallon in Senegambia, Mauritania and Guinea and Fulakunda Fulani in the far west Africa region as well. Dialects are widespread, but can be understood if you listen/read carefully. There is no Fulani look so to say. The Fulani in the far west have mixed with Mande peoples and other neighbouring ethnic groups. The Fulani in Nigeria have mixed with Hausa and other neighbouring ethnic groups (same with Niger like the Wodaabe intermarry with Touareg people).

emöfine:

The last few posts on here were really interesting and informative especially Fulaman198's posts.
It's really good to hear directly from both the Hausa and Fulani groups and not just have to rely on second hand information or hearsay.
I have a few questions to ask myself if you guys don't mind?

Fulaman198:

I do not mind, ask away