According to a report by The Sun on Sunday, November 2, 2025, Elder statesman and Professor of Theology and Social Ethics, Prof. Yusufu Turaki, has revisited Nigeria’s pre-colonial history, tracing the roots of ethnic and religious divisions to the 1804 Jihad led by Usman Dan Fodio, which he said redefined power and social relations in Northern Nigeria.
In an interview with Sunday Sun, the Middle Belt leader explained that the Jihad not only overthrew the Hausa Sarauta system but also introduced a new socio-political order dominated by the Fulani, which laid the foundation for centuries of inequality and marginalisation.
Turaki said, “In 1804, Usman Dan Fodio staged a Jihad against the Hausa on account of Islamic interpretations and overthrew the Hausa Sarauta system and imposed the Muslim Fulani rule over the entire Hausaland, until the arrival of the British Colonialism on the 1st of January 1900.”
He explained that the Fulani Jihad reshaped the political landscape of Northern Nigeria by merging religion and governance, creating a system where non-Muslim communities particularly in the Middle Belt became subjugated under the influence of Islamic theocracy.
According to Turaki, this system was later preserved and expanded by British colonial rule, which empowered the Muslim elite to dominate indigenous populations through indirect governance.
“The British subordinated the majority of the ethnic groups of the Middle Belt to the Muslim rule of the Fulani and Kanuri and made them second-class citizens,” he said.
Prof. Turaki stressed that the legacies of the 1804 Jihad continue to fuel today’s insecurity and social tension in northern Nigeria.
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