Lere, Nigeria
| Lere, Nigeria | |
|---|---|
| LGA | |
| Country |
 Nigeria
|
| State | Kaduna State |
| Government | |
| • Emir | Brig. Gen Garba A Mohammed rtd |
| Predominantly Fulani | |
| Time zone | WAT (UTC+1) |
Lere is a town in Lere Local Government Area of Nigeria in Kaduna State, Nigeria. It is located geographically at the latitude 10 degrees 39 North and longitude 8 degrees 57 East. Established in 1870, by the fifth Sarkin Lere Muhammadu Dankaka, the town is the headquarters of Lere Emirate. The town and its environs has an estimated population of 94,000.
Lere Local Government has an area of 2,158 km2 and a population of 331,161 at the 2006 census. Its headquarters are in the town of Saminaka.
To understand the origin of the founders of Lere one would have to go back deep into history to the Takrur region of present-day Mauritania and Senegambia, where a kingdom once thrived under the Fulbe or Fulani. The original founders of Lere claim their ancestral home to Futa Toro, where they developed a strong presence around the Senegal river valley as far back as the 5th century. Oral traditions suggested a strong association in terms of intermarriages between them and other ethnic groups races such as the North African Berbers like Zenata, Zenaga and Sanhaja clans as well as Maqil Arabs which generated several conflicting theories as regard to their origin. Preceding all other claims, however, was a theory that linked the forefathers of the founders of Lere to the Fatimids in North Africa through Idris bin Abdallah, founder of Idrisid dynasty in Morocco. He traced his ancestry to Ali ibn Abi Talib and his wife Fatimah, daughter of Prophet Muhammad. Nevertheless, some historical records strongly suggested that they were a proto-Fulani clan of the Torodbe (Toronkawa) stock. This clan intermarried with the Sanhaja Arabs from Massufa in the Western Sahara, who founded the Almoravid or al-Murabitun movement in the eleventh century. From the Takrur, they migrated into Western Sudan settling in places like Kunta and Timbuktu. In Timbuktu, they played a significant role in the emergence of Askia Muhammad as emperor of Songhay at the fall of Mali empire in the 15th century.
After Askiya Muhammad defeated Sonni Barou at the Battle of Anfao in April 1493 which ended the reign of Za dynasty in Songhai, he re-organised the Songhay empire and appointed Umar bin Muhammad Naddi, who was a Sanhaja Arab as governor of Timbuktu, and the Askiya gave him the right to possess a drum as sign of his authority. Later the title of Timbuktu-koi or governor of Timbuktu was taken over by the famous Aqit family, a Torodbe-Sanhaja. The family produced several Qadi’s or governors until it reached Umar bin Mahmud Aqit, who lost it to the Moroccan Sa’dis following the fall of Songhay Empire in 1591 after the Moroccan invasion. The Aqit family were said to have been dispersed by the Moroccans who spread violence, cruelty and destruction upon the cities of Timbuktu, Jenne and Gao. Some members of the Aqit family together with their Torodbe cousins left Timbuktu at the fall of the empire. They moved across the Niger Bend into Niger republic and Burkina Faso in the early 17th century establishing several towns and settlements amongst whom are two separate towns sharing similar name of "Lere" in southwest of Timbuktu and at the Dendi region of present-day Burkina Faso. In their possession were three drums (Tambura) carted away from the ruins of their palaces in Timbuktu. These drums (Tambura) were part of the insignia of office for the governors of Timbuktu province in Songhay Empire. From the Niger territory, they drifted south-ward into present day northern Nigeria and settled at Zamfara, near Maru in a place now known as Tsohon Banaga. This Fulani clan was later identified as Fulanin Dawaki, because they were excellent horse-breeders. But they split into several sub-groups, mainly, due to their huge population and large number of cattle, camels, goats and horses.
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