Gembu, Nigeria
| Gembu | |
|---|---|
| city | |
 Gembu
|
|
| Coordinates: 6°43′N 11°15′E / 6.717°N 11.250°E | |
| Country |
 Nigeria
|
| State | Taraba State |
| LGA | Sardauna |
| Elevation | 1,348 m (4,423 ft) |
| Time zone | WAT (UTC+1) |
Gembu is a town found on the mambilla plateau in Taraba State of Nigeria. It is the headquarters of Sardauna Local Government Area (formerly "Mambilla") in Taraba state.
Sitting at an average elevation of about 1,348 meters (4,423 ft) above sealevel, it is among the high elevated towns in Nigeria.
Gembu, the name of the ancient Mambilla town of Bommi, was taken from the name of a former monarch of the town known as 'Gelmvu'. The town is found on the Mambilla Plateau, in the south eastern part of Taraba state, close to the border separating Nigeria and Cameroon. This Mambilla region is famous in African history and a new book by Bami-Yuno (soon to be in circulation) details the discovery that the people inhabiting the Mambilla Region do represent the Bantu who remained after the great split and Bantu expansion across Africa beginning c. 1500 BC. The Mambilla Region is the generally accepted Bantu Homeland (Zeitlyn and Connell, 2003; Bami-Yuno, 2013). The following is an excerpt from Chapter One of the book, The Mambilla Region in African History.
By far the most significant factor in African pre-history is the ethnogenesis and spread of the Bantu-speaking peoples associated with the Mambilla Region of the Nigeria-Cameroon borderlands (the Mambillobantu Region) in West Africa. The Bantu expansion, which many authorities believe to have begun from this region between 2000 and 1500 B.C, led to the ramification of over one-third of Africa by the same category of Africans, the Bantus, covering some thirty African countries today. Most of the people existing in the central and southern Nigeria-Cameroon border, southern Cameroon, central, eastern and southern Africa today are a result of the Bantu expansion from the Mambilla Region or the result of a fusion between the Bantu migrants and Nilo-Saharans (as in a few communities in East Africa) or Bantu and Pygmies (as in some communities in central Africa). One in every three Africans today is Bantoid. The Mambilla Region itself was not totally evacuated and the area is still occupied by the Macro-Bantu-speaking Mambilloid peoples who represent the remnants of that great African expansion.
Originally, the only inhabitants of Bommi were the 'Bom-bo' or Tungbo Clan of the Mambilla. They constitute the true Bommi people. The Bommi are the central group of the wide Tungbo which include the Mbubo, Ngebo (from Lenge to as far northwest as Tumbuà, Jimau, Nasò, Ngùng, Yénájù Plain, Furrmi, etc.), Gulkal, Mverip, Kwubo, and their Saan Cradle from which point they all expanded. Today, Bommi Town (Gembu), being the headquarters of a Local Government Area, has attracted a population diverse in ethnic makeup, which has resulted in the town taking a cosmopolitan shape. People coming from different parts of Nigeria have made the town their home. Cameroonian immigrants can also be found in the town. The local government area, known as "Mambilla" throughout its ancient and contemporary history, was renamed "Sardauna" by the then Col. Jega, related to the "Sardauna of Sokoto" Ahmadu Bello, when he came as Military Governor of former Gongola State in 1976. This misnomer was quashed in the Second Republic (1979 - 1983) and the ancient name of "Mambilla" was restored. However, on his second coming in 1984,Jega arbitrarily re-imposed the name "Sardauna", a chieftaincy title, on this Local Government Area (previously known as "Mambilla Landschaft", "Mambilla District", "Mambilla-Gashaka Native Authority", and "Mambilla Local Authority"). Jega imposed the misnomer of "Sardauna" notwithstanding that it was unhistorical and non-autochthonous.
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