Mandaragirau

Mandaragirau is a town in Borno State, Nigeria.

It is a fact that Mandaragirau is one of the most important places in the history of the Pabir tribe and the present Biu Emirate. This is because the history of the Dagil clan, a direct descendant of Yamtarawala the founder of Pabir and its kingdom in the 15th century is to some great extent related to Mandaragirau. It is therefore very obvious that the history of Yamtarawala and the Babur (Pabir) kingdom, and that of the present Biu Emirate cannot be complete without mentioning the history of the Dagil clan and its Mandaragirau kingdom.

The reports written by the European colonialists and particularly as found in the famous “Biu Book” (1954-1956) and the book “Emirates of Northern Nigeria” by S. G. Hogben & A. H. M. Kirk-Green (1966) established that Yamtarawala the founder of the Babur tribe and its Kingdom came to Biu area from Birni Ngazargamu in the early 15th century. He first settled himself in the Biu area at a place called Limbur, between Chikorkir and Mandaragirau where he made Limbur as his capital. He found the Bura people in the area with three main villages at Miringa, Diwar and Buratai and duly defeated them with the help of legendary stratagems. He established his Kingdom in the area and ruled from 1535 to 1560.

Perhaps it would be very important to understand at this point that the tribe name of the descendants of Yamtarawala which is now refer to as Babur is actually called “Pabir”. The Pabir tribe is said to be a mixture of the Bura Clans, other tribes in the area and Yamtarawala’s people who came to the Viu (Biu) area in the early 15th century. According to Mr. J. G. Davies, District Officer of Biu (1935-1955) and author of the “Biu Book” (1954/56), the word Babur is Kanuri/Hausa pronunciation. The spelling Babur was in use in 1906 and was made official in 1935, though the decision according to Davies was taken on an incorrect fact. (Davies 1954:V)

It was possible that Yamtarawala's kingdom soon split up into a number of small kingdoms (such as Mandaragirau, Gongdi, and Yimirdalang) of which the Babur kingdom was the greatest (Davies 1954:32). It was finally established that two most important dynasties were ultimately formed by the descendants of Yamtarawala after his death, one at Kogu (Biu), and the other at Mandaragirau. It is however important to note that although the Yamtarawala’s tomb at Limbur and some of his regalia are in the custody of the people of Mandaragirau, Yamtarawala himself has never at any time lived there and or made her his capital. It was only the Dagil Chiefs that used Mandaragirau as one of their capital. This place however has a very significant position in the History of the entire Pabir Dynasty(s).

Records from the British Colonial Rulers confirmed that from about the year C, 1740 in Biu area were kingdoms of Babur, Mandaragirau, Shani, Shelleng and some other village kingdoms like Kwaya Tera, Yimirdllang, Walama and Gusi. The Babur kingdom which was rightfully controlled by Garga Kwamting when he was made Chief of Babur (Biu) in 1904, and consisted of the present village areas of Biu, Gur, Gunda, Garubula, Miringa, Buratai, Kida, Kwaya Bura, Hyema, Vina and Zira. This was roughly Babur District less Mandaragrau plus Biu town District and four nearby, Bura village areas. (Davies 1954:57).

...
Wikipedia