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Comment: Resubmitted without addressing previous decline reasoning. – {{u|hekatlys}} WOOF 17:37, 10 November 2025 (UTC)BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ANUFOM (CHOKOSIS) BY ROBERT KONABRI NACHINDI
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION: WHO ARE THE ANUFOM?
The Anufom commonly known by non Anufom as Chokosis (spelt variously as Chakosi, Tykossi (French) Tchakossi (German)) are to a large extent the descendants of members of a mercenary army who left the Ano region of Baule land in what is now La Cote d’Ivoire to provide military aid to the ruler of Gonja chiefdom in the mid eighteenth century. They speak Anufo (Chokossi) a slightly variant of the language spoken by the people of Ano – a dialect of Baule of central La Cote d’Ivoire.
The term Chakossi may be derived from chan (to wander) and kohe or koshe (to sell) in Mole-Dagbani as explained by Rattray (1932) A less complementary derivative is cha (to cut or hack) and Kohe (same). If this explanations is acceptable then this Author postulates that the name was given to Anufom when they left Mamprusi and wandered around raiding villages and capturing slaves to sell in Mole Dagbani territory.
This region from where they travelled from into Ghana and Togo was, some decades earlier, been overrun by two migrations, one from the north, and the other from the south-east. Princes of the Wattara patronymic group of the Dyula warrior estate (commonly called the Wagara) had moved south of Kong to establish a number of small kingdoms whose subjects were of Senufo and Abe origins. The Wattara brought with them a number of Islamic scholars of dyula origin who were, above all, purveyors of talismans and war magic. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, as a result of the expansion of the Asante Empire, large numbers of Agni-Baule fled across the Komoe River and, in exchange for land grants from the Dyula rulers, the Baule, submitted themselves to Wattara rule. The Dyula have since been spiritual advisors of the rulers and entrepreneurs because of their wide commercial and religious network.
1.1 THE DYLA
The Dyula are a Mande ethnic group inhabiting several West African countries, including Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Burkina Faso. Characterized as a highly successful Merchant caste, Dyula immigrants began establishing trading communities across the region in the fourteenth century. The Dyula spear headed Mande penetration of the forested zones in the south by establishing caravan routes and trading posts at strategic locations throughout the region en route to cola producing areas. Many of the trading posts established became market villages or cities, such as Kong in today’s North-eastern Cote d’Ivoire. The Dyula brought their trading skills and connections and transformed Kong into an international market for the exchange of northern desert goods such as salt and cloth and southern forest exports such as cola nuts, gold and slaves. The area became a site for expansion, raiding and warfare of a number of regional powers (Saul, Mahir 1998). A set of heterogeneous populations and a set of different war- houses (merchants) with a large number of mercenaries and slaves dedicated to warfare developed in the city of Kong. A documented history has it that in early 1700’s Seku Wattara deposed and killed an important leader in Kong and united the forces of a number of Dyula leaders in the area. Seku used this consolidated power to control politics in Kong and created a large sphere of influence throughout the region. After establishing control over Kong, forces under Seku and allied leaders with their own war houses took over towns and settlements throughout the region mainly focused on control of trade routes (Azarya, Victor1988) They took over the region around the Black Volta to the north and in the south to the land later occupied by the Baules before running into the growing Asante Empire control over Gyaaman. Seku died in 1735. When they came into contact with them, the Baules called them Nsoko. Nsoko appears to derive from an old Akan name for the Mande (Delafosse 1912 II 212).It survives in Anyi/Baule as Nsoko, in Gonja as Nsogo and in modern Twi in a form showing Hausa influence as Nzongo, generic term for immigrants (and usually Muslim) quarter of town. From about 1740 until its destruction in 1898 a politically decentralised state existed with its centre in the city of Kong. The state was held together largely through linked settlements and outposts ruled by different members of a merchant class located in Kong. These merchants were not only significant for the trade they directed but also because each merchant family established a series of key trading outposts along key routes protected by mainly recruited indigene warriors. These war houses thus protected the trade routes for the merchants and also allowed raiding and organized warfare to occur largely directed by the merchants. Two of the most important houses were linked to the lineages of Seku and Famaga. The Chieftains linking their lineage to Seku often took the name Wattara. This is to signify this relationship.
THE BAULE
The Baules currently live in La Cote D’Ivoire mainly near the cities of Bouake and Yamoussoukro. The Baule are a part of the Akan ethnic group who migrated westwards from the present Ghana during the reign of the second Asantehene, Opoku Ware1 (1720 – 1750). The circumstance leading to their migration to their present site is not clear. Legend has it that while fleeing for their lives they came to the Comoe River (sometimes written Komoe) which they were unable to cross. With their enemies chasing them they began to throw their most precious possessions into the river. When it came to the attention of the Queen who led them in their flight that she had to sacrifice her son to the river to pave the way for them to cross, she threw him in. After crossing, the Queen was so upset about losing her son that all she could say was “Baouli” meaning the child is dead. From that point on they were known as Baule. There has not been any plausible reason for the hot pursuit by the enemy resulting in the haste and urgency of their migration. The close similarity of language and the agreed place of origin of the Baule and the Anyi people (all claim to have migrated from Kumasi) suggest to this Author that they were part of Aowin Brossa (Anyi) people led by their Chief Ebiri Moro who dispersed after an unsuccessful invasion of Kumasi in 1722. History as narrated by Nana Ebbi Kwaw Dehyie11, Royal Abakomahene of Suaman Traditional Council, a rival traditional council to the Aowin traditional council at a Press Conference on 2nd June 2021 has it that Ebiri Moro attacked Kumasi when the Asante army was at war in Akyem and killed the first Asantehema Nana Nyarko Kusi Amoa, took the old men, women, and children captives. Opoku Ware upon hearing this news, dispatched an army who pursued and killed Ebiri Moro at present day Aduyaakrom, near the River Bia. He traced the history of the Anyi prior 1722 to have controlled the whole of present day Western North, Ahafo and about a quarter of Ashanti Regions.
This Author is persuaded by this account more than others after considering the haste and desperation in their oral narration of their migration. This is reinforced by the fact that the majority of the Anyi are in La Cote D’Ivoire. They were similarly said to have migrated from the Asante Kingdom during the same period and founded Kingdoms like the Indenie, Sanwi and Moronous. The minority settled around Enchi completing the disintegration of the Aowin Brossa kingdom. There seems to be an unwritten taboo on the truth about their migration. In any case the Baule had an identity before their migration that resulted in the death of their prince from where they assumed the ‘Baule’ identity. The Baule settled between the rivers Bandama and Camoe. They displaced and intermarried with the Senafo of the north and Gunu people of the west. They quickly became the middle man post for north and south trading routes. Towns and villages sprouted up with each being independent from one another making their own decisions. Baule society is characterised by extreme individualism, great tolerance and a deep aversion towards rigid political structures. There are about twenty subgroups of Baule. They are: Akou, Sah, Agba, Gbloh, Ahitou, Kode, Goly, Nanfoue, Satiklan, Oulebo, Ahale, Soudo, Faly, Don, Souhamliu, Ngban, NziKpli, Didievi, Ayahou, Fahafoue, Elemoue, Yaoor and Anoh. These subgroups actually speak the same language with particular nuances in tone and pronouciation. Baule have a calendar that is different from other Akan subgroups. This may be due to the circumstances of their departure from Akanland and/or the need for them to mark a separation from the Asante kingdom. Baule children are often named according to the day of the week they were born as listed below:
CORRESPONDING DAY NAMES
Foue (Saturday) Koffi/AffoueMonin (Sunday) Kouame/AmoinKissie (Monday) Kouassi/AkissiDjole (Tuesday) Kouadjo/AdjouaMlan (Wednesday) Konan/AmlanOuwe (Thursday) Koukou/AhouYah (Friday) Yao/Aya, Yaba
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 ANUFOM MIGRATION
2.1 ANCESTRAL HOME
As stated earlier, the Kong Empire had a merchant class who established a series of key trading outposts along key routes protected by warriors. One of the outpost established was at Groumania (literally Okro field and also called Mango Toro by the Mande (Dyula presumably restricted to their area of town)) on the banks of the Camoe River in the land of Ngan (Ngan-nou) or Anoh.It was the then capital of Anoh, one of the subgroups of Baule. Current traditional capital is Famienkro a town in east -central La Cote D’Ivoire. It was from there that the Anufom were said to have migrated from. This band of warriors consisted musket toting foot soldiers from the Anyi-Baule, the njem Andofom, along with the Wattara horsemen of the Jeremabu (Jabu) Badara, Bosoro, and Jokoe (Fomboro-Achuma) and Muslim scholar amulet makers and along the way, they probably added to their numbers renegade Asante munitions suppliers Asadurufom. Thus, the migrants cannot be said to be from one ethnic group though the Ano (Baule) might be dominant.
2.2ADVENTURER OR MERCENARY?
There has not been unanimity for the cause of migration. A narration in Chokossi Chronicle (translated by Omoru Dabia) showed that, Biema and Soma, two putative kinsmen originally received a call for military assistance from the ruler of Gonja, against whom the chief of Kandia was in revolt. C0rnevin maintains that Kandia is probably present day Daboya ( Cornevin 1962:67).
Both Biema and Soma called upon fellow warriors to join them in their expedition to fight with the Gonja ruler against the insurgents. Though Soma was older than Biema, Soma ceded the leadership to Biema because he was his paternal uncle. This event can be fixed somewhere between 1748 (i.e 1162AH) Anufom date for leaving their homeland according to the only date incorporated into a copy of the written history and 1751 (the date under which their presence is noted in Gonja Kitab (Goody 1954).
This Author does not dispute the substance of this narration but is of the view that Biema and Soma could not have assembled warriors to undertake their mercenary activities in a short time to achieve such recorded victories over their enemies. Instead, there probably might have been in existence a standing army which was stationed in Gourmania to oversee the trade route. This Author postulates that it was this army financed by a merchant house of the Wattara lineage that was mobilized to fight and subdue the Tampulmas and other non Gonja tribes in and around Daboya. There could be also commercial interest of their merchant owners – to protect the salt mines and trading routes than merely quelling rebellion against the local chief. Of course after completion of their main assignment, the chief exploited their mercenary disposition, to use them to consolidate his control over his territory. This assertion is made out of the fact that no fighting force hurriedly assembled, could chalk up victories in succession as has been reported about the Anufom. Later, and most probably, they rebelled against their merchant owner and undertook their own mercenary missions most probably with the connivance of the Gonja chief. After a successful campaign, the Anufom were appealed upon by the ruler of the state of Mamprussi whose capital, was Nalerigu to help constrain the depredations of the Tampulmas and small Gurma kingdom of Nakitindi (Kandtindi) on the north-eastern frontier of Mamprussi. They agreed and even encouraged by the Gonja chief for his parochial interest since the Tampulmas he fought against had kinsmen in the Mamprusi territory too. An account of Imam Gasema published by Seefried (Seefried 1913) reports that the king of Jabo (Yagbumwura) assisted the Ano mercenaries with scouts under his son Weio to Gambaga. Accompanied by guides from Gonja, the mercenaries from Ano set forth on another series of raids.
2.3 ANUFO BATTLE STRATEGYThe successes of the Anufom in battle was a direct result of their control of a superior means of destruction which consisted of guns, horses, and a concomitant military strategy. (Goody 1971).The strategy put foot-soldiers with scouts in the vanguard and horsemen in the rear waiting to pursue the fleeing enemy.An unarmed advance party called jonjofom or tutafom (literally flagmen) scouted the enemy’s location, drew their initial fire and then retreated to a position behind the horsemen. These were followed by the koukrouban or nantakom who attacked with unflighted poison arrows. Then came the main body of njem musketeers from the centre, and the right and left flanks. Each of these positions was backed up by cavalry who carried spears and pistols called kudieku.Oral tradition maintain that battle position was assigned by patronymic group and estate status. The Fombolofom attacked first from the right flank. Then the Jabu and Sangbana from the centre and finally from the left flank the Badara, Mamnshi and Sabuti. Chiefs remained in the back ranks well protected, while the front ranks were filled with slaves (akom). Muslim patronymic groups supplied supportive prayer and talismans. (Kirby 1986) Among the different types of trade guns used by the Anufom they named the four most popular for war as kopim, dadale, ngonje and karawa. Seefried tells us that although no tributary relationship existed with Asante, there existed a bounteous trade. “The Asante often sent gold, cloth, guns and gunpowder. For these, the kings of Mango sent a number of slaves and only strong men equivalent to the quality of the goods” (1913:430)
Sangbana n’gyem called “Andofom” (people from Ano) include a number of “houses” the most important of which are Nadika which is the largest and Atakoro dika whose elders (safonyina) had power to assemble all n’gyem in time of war. In fact the “witch hunting” and “war” cult of dumbe was in the house of Atakoro and was the most important political rallying point for the n’gyem as a whole.
CHAPTER THREE
3.0SETTLEMENT AT SANSANNE MANGO
3.1DEPARTURE FROM MAMPRUGU
Anufom departure from Mamprugu (Mamprusi land) is smeared with controversies. There is a narrative that the Nalerigu Wall was purposely built to prevent Anufom from leaving Nalerigu while others go as far as saying that they were captured and enslaved to build the wall. The undisputable fact is that, the Wall was built before the arrival of the Anufom under the reign of Na Jeringa (around 1740-1752) who was the son of Na Atabia known to have moved the Nayiri Palace from Gambaga to Nalerigu. What is obvious is that it was not as cordial and mutual as that of the Gonjas. In fact, the Gonjas who acted as their guide continued their sojourn with them to where they finally settled. Anufo traditions claim that because the Nayiri refused to present them with their hard earned reward for the defeat of Kantindi, the enraged mercenaries turn on them, pillaged Mamprussi villages and departed to the Gurma country.
In any case, Anufom are playmates to the Gonjas and Mamprusis; and oral tradition of the Gonjas and Mamprusis maintains that the Anufors were their ‘slaves’ contracted to fight for them while Anufoum maintain that they are ‘masters’ who have fought wars for the Gonjas and the Mamprusis and have not yet been fully paid for their services
.
3.2SETTLEMENT
During the following years the Anufo mercenaries raided through much of present northern Togo, plundering the villages of the region, before they overthrew the Gurma inhabitants and established a permanent war-camp at Kondjoko on the right northern-bank of the Oti River around 1751 (Goody 1954:42, The Kitab (Gonja Chronicles), Jon P Kirby 1986). Other sources dispute that date. Chronicle of the Karamo-Kajura puts it that it took fifty (50) years from the time they left Anoh to their final settlement. The estimated date of the permanent settlement would be around 1764 (Norris 1986). The earlier cited date could be the time they left Anoh for their sojourn which the Karamo-Kajura rather put at 1750. This settlement was renamed Sansanne Mango - a name that seemed to have come from two sources. Sansanne is a corrupt spelling of the Hausa “sansani” meaning war camp most probably given by Hausa traders and Mango the Mande name for their part of town in Grumania (and also known and called Mango Toro in Mande) the town they originally migrated from. The site was undoubtedly chosen because it lay at a point through which passed a major trade route linking the market town of Salaga with the Muslim Hausa region of northern Nigeria and plied by trade caravans transporting kola nuts a similar role played by Grumania.
The Anufom themselves call the town Nzara or Nzanou. As stated earlier, Grumania was in the land of Nganou. Though the origin of Nzara/Nzanou is unknown some suggest it means meeting place for decision making. However, Westermann and Bryan (1952: 30, 1,214) translate Nganu as the language of the people of Ano. Flowing from that Nzara or Nzanou could be a direct adaptation of this word for old Ano
3.3 ANUFOM EXPANSION
During the following 130years up to the imposition of German colonial rule, Anufom never ceasesed to expand their sway over the village communities around Sansanne Mango and never ceased to raid for slaves in a further ring which lay beyond their subject villages.Furthermore, whereas the earlier state building intruders assimilated the subjugated indigenous people to some degree and fused the different groups into a new single cultural entity differentiated perhaps into estates, the Anufom maintained rigid and theoretically impenetrable social barriers between themselves and their autochthonous subjects. In comparison between the Dagomba State and Mango, the German Stationsleiter of Mangu-Jendi (current palance: Mango-Yendi District) as the northern most administrative district of German Togo was known remarked that ‘while the Dagomba who had over the years conquered a part of Konkomba territories, assimilated this population into their state structure, the Chakosi had not achieved a similar relationship with the indigenous peoples of their region. Instead, the Chakosi leaders had simply divided among themselves the villages surrounding Mango, and forced the inhabitants to deliver up annual tributes’ (Norris1986)
The period from the founding of the Anufo war-camp on the banks of the Oti River in the second half of the eighteenth century to the imposition of German rule in 1897, the economic activities of the Anufom took two forms. The first period could be termed the expansion of influence. The Anufom, divided into bands under the command of the different donzom military leaders, undertook long-distance raids, striking as far north as Fada N'Gurma, to Bafilo and Aledjo in the Kotokoli region of present-day central Togo and to Djugu in the Borgu area of what is now the Republique Populaire du Benin. Such exceptionally wide ranging forays were, according to Anufom traditions, were of long duration. Cornevin calls the people whom the Anufom raided the “Paragurma”. (1962: 81) They include the BMoba, Natchaba, Dye (of Mogou,Paio, Boni, Tchanga, Tamioti and Gando), the Bou-Bankam (Sadori, Kountoure,Panga and along the Kara River), the Kombas also called Kpan-kpan (in the west trans-Oti) and the Konkombas, Kpalibam ( to south along the Oti River). Infact, during a visit to Nadika, a n’gye lineage attached to the donzom lineage of Sangbana in Mango in 1976, this Author was shown on display as finial of its “le” (entrance hut) a large tube-like piece of pottery decocrated with spiky protuberances. This object, the “Aledjo”, is said to have been part of a booty from the royal compound in Aledjo Koura, which had been stormed by the Nadika warriors.
Oral history as well as the folk-tales set in this early period tell of the hardships endured by the raiding parties before success was achieved and the warriors could return to Sansanne Mango with captured slaves and stores. The captured slaves were referred to as Ngaganiem, corrupted from the Baule word Kanga – a slave captured through war, tribute or purchase. It should be noted that the word ngaga as currently in use in Anufo is a misnomer since originally it was not a name of a tribe or non-believer in Islam.
3.4ANUFOM ECONOMY
There is no record on the economy of their permanent war-camp itself, but the Anufom insist, and this is confirmed by oral traditions of the surrounding people without exception that they themselves never farmed. Each of the major households of donzom and n’gyem had their own territories to raid and from which to gather tribute. It must be assumed that lesser raids in the vicinity of Mango provided them with the necessary subsistence. Dr Gruner, the leader of the German expedition which later subdued Sansanne Mango, noted that ‘the inhabitants of Mango do not work, are only idle and perform their ceremonies; they are constrained to raid continually the industrious and affluent pagan population’, (Archives National du Togo, Fond Allemand - Ref: ANT/FA/3/4077). Later, Graf von Zech, the Governor of German Togo colony and keen ethnographer, stressed that the Anofoum never farmed in pre-colonial times but each in his turn ‘had the right to wage war with the ‘bush’ people and to seize booty to their own account’. Each of these families also had apportioned to it one or more villages ….where inhabitants had to furnish the necessary grain and livestock. (ANT, FA) 3/4009. Throughout the second period, the Anufom continued to raid for slaves but the villages within a radius of some 80 km. were forced to pay in tribute of part of their annual harvest and their yearly poultry and animal production to the inhabitants of Sansanne Mango. During the nineteenth century, each donzo and each n'gye-lineage received for its members the tribute of one or more villages. The position of the karamo-lineages is less clear as their elders insist today that their ancestors received sustenance from the donzo-lineage to which they were attached. Nevertheless, there is a recorded narration by an 'earth-priest' of Bombouaka, a Moba settlement lying in an important pass through the Gambaga Escarpment, some 50 km. to the north of Mango, related without prompting that the village had paid tribute to the karamo-lineage of Shirabu (Dao) According to Seefried (1913; 425) Kantcho invaded Niger with Sangbana armies in 1853. This is also mentioned by Barth: Reisen und Entdeckungen, 4.Bd.S 572. But there is also a tradition of an earlier raid or two on Nungu (Guruma capital). and it is probable that it is the place where Na Soma died and was buried. This is comfirmed from the Gurma traditions by Madiega (1978). Froelick believes that Fada N’Gurma paid tribute to its rulers in Mango until 1905 (1963:177) as does Cornevin (1962. 68). The Anufo section in Bassari (Koojoodumpu) though has since forgotten their language but they remember the fact that they were posted to collect tribute.Cornevin says that the Aufo controlled all caravans and alltrade passingthrough. (1962:68). Wilks in Curtin (1968):189) gives an account of Wargee concerning the main route fom Asante to Hausa mentioning that it passes through Mango. The same is stated by Abu Bakr (op.cit.:168)CF, also Major Festing CMC DSO Provisional Commissioner in report to the Chief Commissioner of the Northern Territorries,15th July1909 regarding tolls.(GNA, Adm.197/282)
Anufom considered it as the junction of all routes leading from the interior to the coast and radiating in all directions towards Borgues, Dahomey, Dagomba, Kaargu, Gambaga, Mossi, Gurma etc. (FTC 13/109, Alby, 18 May 1895)
Ekem Ferguson described the Anufom at the time of his visit to Sansanne Mango in 1894 as coterminous with Mamprusi, Borgu and Dagomba. This is contained in a confidential paper published in 1897 on the position of England and other European powers in the West coast of Africa and in the Hinterlands.
By the beginning of the Colonial era, Anufo razzias extended to the Gurma capital of Nungu (Fada N’Gurma) (Seefried 1913:425) to the north, to Kusasi and the environs of Bawku in the northwest (cf T.E. Hilton 1962: 83-84), and to Bafilo and Aledjo in the Kotokoli region of central Togo. In the east it extended to Borgu in the present day Benin. (E.G Norris unpublished,) and in the west, to Demon, Waku (and briefly Sunson) (Froelick 1952:246). Bassar, Banjeli and Blitta to the south.
Although the Anufom were not so much interested in ruling the peoples they conquered, as in drawing from them slaves and booty, their influence grew so that they loosely controlled large territory and collected tribute intermittently from about 200,000 people (roughly the same amount as was more strictly controlled by the Dagomba) (cf Asmis 1912:72).
Dr Gruner’s report on Mango remarks that the lineage Sangbana, which trace its origin to Na Soma, the second of the two leaders of the original mercenary band, possessed, at the end of the 19th century (pre-colonial period) the greatest number of tribute-paying villages and that its head also received tribute from Gambaga and Pama. (ANT FA 1/373 p. 428.
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 SOCIAL STRUCTURE
4.1 ANUFO LANGUAGEAnofoum mainly speak Anyi-Baule dialect and is classified as being the genetic unity of the volta-comoe language group.(Steward, Kirby 1986)The Anufo language contains a number of words of Dyula, Gurma and other languages they got into contact with during their sojourn and settlement. Marriages has also influenced the language. As a fighting force, there very few females. Most of the wives were captured during their raids or given out as goodwill or tributes. These women from other tribes with distinct and different languages had influence on the language delivery to their children. Thus Anufo is an “acculturation group” which has a common antecedent with the present day Akan. (Kirby 1965:67). The current Anufo spoken has evolved and should be distinguished from the Anoh Baouale spoken in Famienkro area of Cote D’Ivoire where Anufom migrated from. The current Anoh Bauole spoken cannot be said to be the same spoken at the time of the migration. Language evolution is likely to have taken place. In linguistic evolution, variations takes the form of new words, pronunciations, and grammatical structures and may come about as of human invention, or arriving at a new place and may find a need for word for an unfamiliar object and simply make one up.This Author disagrees with the suggestion to abandon the Anufo currently spoken and go for the Anoh Bauole. It should rather be seen as a sub dialect of the Anoh Bauole and be promoted rather than discarded.
4.2ANUFO CALENDERAnufom have a twelve (12) – month’s year calendar. The first month of the year is Jomene and like most cultures it is celebrated with pomp and pageantry as a New Year. It is climaxed on the tenth (10th) day known as “Shetu” with cleansing and renewal rites. It is a month of storytelling with children surrounding the older people mostly grandparents to listen to forklores, lessons to be learnt, applicable sanctions or rewards and appropriate advises for the good of the society.
NAMES OF MONTHS (SARAM DUMA)
1.Jomene 2. Asafara
3 Damba 4. Damba koroko 5. Koroko fenene 6. Kandomi 7. Kandomakono 8. Alejinaji 9. Sungari 10. Mingari 11. Dongiako (dongiman) 12. Dongi
DAYS OF THE WEEK AND ASSOCIATED DAY BORN NAMES
Monne (Sunday) Kwam /Amoe Cisse (Monday) Kosi / Agisi Djole (Tuesday) Kojo / Ajoa Maana (Wednesday) Komna / Amana Ouhwe (Thursday) Koku / Awu Yaa (Friday) Yaw / Yaba /Aya Foe (Saturday) Kofi /Afoe
The born day names are similar to Southern Ghana names, but the actual days do not correspond. It follows the pattern of the Bauoles as explained earlier.
4.3SETTLEMENT PATTERN
The settlement pattern of Sansanne Mango still reflects the battle order of this army come to rest. In a line along the bluffs commanding the right bank of the Oti lie the compounds of the donzo estate, the descendants of the military leaders. Anufom are distinguished from neighbours by bond of language and custom. But they differentiate among themselves by patronymics (clan). There were four main clans - _Jabu, Sagbana, Badara and Fomoro/Bosoro. Other affiliated clan include Asaduru, Mamnshi, Samti, Konkoro.The appellation for Jabu is ‘Wattara’ and Sagbana, ‘namuni kachobonga’ In the centre are those of Jabu, the children of Biema, and Sangbana, whose forbear was Soma. On the left flank are the compounds of Badara and donzo Kajura, the descendants of Biema's Wattara companions and the right flank is guarded by Fomboro and Bosoro, the progeny of Soma's consorts. Before the donzom compounds lies a protecting area of the numerous estates comprising the descendants of the foot-soldiers armed n'gyem, with muzzle-loading guns who formed the main strike force of the army under a leader known as Sofonyina. Among these n'gyem compounds, but usually close to a donzom dwelling, are found the compounds of the karamom, the Muslim descendants of the Islamic scholars who accompanied the Wattara warriors as counsellors and purveyors of war magic. For maximum protection is situated Ngbajasu (Gonja quarters) close to Jabu and Kajura. This is a settlement of the Gonjas who served as guide during Anufom travel from Gonjaland through Mamprusi to their present location.
4.4 SOCIAL CLASSWithin Anufo society, four societal categories are used to discriminate social ranking. The donzom, the karamom, the n’gyem and finally akom. Each of these categories is in fact to some degree heterogeneous. The degree of privilege, authority, dependence, deference and ductility varied not merely in the various relationship between the different and hierarchically ordered estates, but from lineage to lineage of each estate in its superordinate and subordinate interrelation
The first three social categories, donzo, karamu and n'gye, represent a simplified version of the pattern of a rigid hierarchy based on occupational criteria common to many Islamized western Sudanic societies. Donzo is a Mande word originally used to describe a hunter group and later interpreted as horse mounted warriors. N’gye meaning “a commoner” originally an Anyi – Baule term signifying the ‘red ant’ and said to have been used to describe the origins of the immigrants of Anyi – Baule in the Ano region because of their large numbers. Karamo is a member of the Muslim estate from the Mande Karamoko, usually a respectful term of address to an Islamic scholar. Each of the afore-mentioned clans had these three social categories or estates. Majority of these societies have descendant groups engaged in certain despised occupations such as smith craft, leather-working and storytelling. They have become the endogamous dependents of their warrior rulers, each of the Anufom categories is defined in purely military terms. The interpretation of the system as caste-based, or even as a warrior syndrome becomes ambivalent. Only two lineages of Sansanne Mango practiced, and still practice, hereditary trades, weaving and butchering. Both are latecomers to the settlement and are respectively of 'Lobi' and Dagbon origin. There was no social mobility among the estates. There is, however, a limited, asymmetrical exchange of marriageable women. The n'gyem were exclusive wife-givers, offering daughters to both donzom and karamom: the donzom receive wives from the n'gyem but give daughters only to the karamom and the karamom are exclusively wife-receivers, obtaining women from both the other estates but reserving their own daughters for exchanges among them-selves. The karamom insist that their donzom masters provided them with wives of noble birth in exchange for their services on their expeditions. There is some evidence that, while such inter-estate exchanges certainly occurred, they were rare in the past and that the 'daughters' may well have been the progeny of slaves adopted into the donzom lineages. N'gyem informants believe that the exchange system is a relatively recent innovation. Most marriages are based on exchanges between lineages of the same estate.
The relationship between the donzom and the karamom is generally expressed in the idiom of contract. The karamom like to describe their participation in the original mercenary adventure as a result of a pact sworn upon a copy of the Koran. They were promised protection and non-interference in their internal and Islamic affairs. In return the karamon promised to aid the donzom with advice both pragmatic and supernatural without furthering personal political ambitions. The karamom were therefore substantially dependent on the donzo largesse for their physical existence.
The n’gyem subsumes a variety of groupings but the definitive emic principle is expressed as dependence on the donzom and owing of allegiance on a basis other than consanguinity. They are by no means slaves whose social existence is defined by the donzom. True, as dependent of a warrior leader, they were obliged to follow their masters to war and to obey their commands but their own prowess as fighters and the knowledge of their leaders of other non- Islamic supernatural means of achieving victory in battle was acknowledged. Lineages such as Ando, Nadika and Samti whose parental roots were set firmly in Ano, - the country they departed from, and who had accompanied the donzom in their adventures from the beginning enjoyed greater privileges. The ownership of the dumbe shrine gave them an institution which counterbalanced some of donzom political power.
In addition to the hierarchical division of the society into estates, the structure is also segmented vertically above the lineage level. Each n'gye and each karamo descent group 'belongs' to one of the donzo-lineages. They are not the dependents of the superordinate estate but of the descendants of one of the warrior leaders. The lineages of each of the estates were not, however, equal. The n'gye-lineage of Asadoro, who held the monopoly of the gun and powder trade, the basis of Anufo military supremacy in the region, today believe that, uniquely, the lineage was not attached to any particular donzo-lineage, and the n'gyem of Ando were the sole owners of the dumbe shrine whose cult members formed a political grouping which counterbalanced to some extent the chief's court.
Most lands are family owned. Each member of the family has equal rights, and the family head serves as an arbiter in times of conflict within the family and/or acts as representative of the family outside the family conflict.
4.5 TRADITIONAL RELIGION
Most Anufom participated in certain local cults such as the annual assuagement of the river spirit embodied in a crocodile, and they drank sorghum/millet beer.
The n'gyem devoted themselves to the cult of their ancestors and the elders of their lineages were all members of the senior ranks of a secret society - dumbe, an organization with political functions and of magico-military importance. The revered icon of this cult was kept in a meeting house near the market. When it spoke, it was like a 'bull-roarer' rather than a drum; woman and children, the karamom, and those donzom who were not members of the lower ranks of the secret society had to bandon the paths of the town to confine themselves to their compound. The 'voice' was such that the 'thatched roofs vibrated' and the animal familiars of sorcerers fell to the ground dead.Non-initiates discovered outside compounds were regarded as sorcerers who had been on 'voyages' with their familiars and were believed to have reverted to human form on having heard the voice of dumbe. Such persons were dragged to a certain place and executed.
During the reign of Tabi, the first feme after the restoration of the office to Jabu, sometime following the First World War division of the German colony between France and Britain, a white cock, the pride of Tabi, was caught during such a search for sorcerers. The cock was sacrificed. Its loss and, of course, the implicit accusation of sorcery, so enraged Tabi that he appealed to the French colonial administration to help him rid Sansanne Mango of this irksome presence. It is reported that the feme's men tore off the loincloth of the owner of dumbe, the elder of the n'gye lineage of Ando, forced their way into the meeting house and destroyed the sacred vessels. After the destruction of the vessels, the society broke up and it has never been re-formed. The following years appear to have been a period of religious disillusionment among the n'gyem as well as, to a lesser degree, among the donzom. At this time other non-Islamic ceremonies were also abandoned.
4.6ISLAM IN ANUFO LAND
It is generally agreed among the Anufom that only three of the present karamom lineages trace their ancestry to Islamic scholars who actually accompanied the mercenary army on its journey from Ano to northern Togo: - Kambaya-of the Kamghte patronymic dyula group who, until the advent of the German colonization provided the town with its Imam; Mande-lineage karamo-Kajura, of the patronymic group Jabaghte-, from which group the first imam might have been drawn and whose elders were later responsible for certain aspects of justice in Sansanne Mango and preside over the installation ceremonies of a new feme. The remaining karamom-lineages, of which Shirabu-properly Dao, for the name Shirabu is taken from the n'gye quarter which they now occupy-and Gono are the most important, are latecomers from the Kong region, whence all karamom claim their immediate origin. The question of the karamo-lineage possessing the most ancient claim to the title of imam of Sansanne Mango is a matter of controversy. Karamo-Kajura pride themselves as being the karamom who left Anoh with the mercenaries and after sojourning for forty-one (41) days met the Jabaya Imam who was older and probably more learned and therefore ceded the imamship to him. According to Professor Nehemiah Levtzion, who apparently confuses the lineages karamo-Kajura and Mande, the 17th Imam who accompanied Biema and Soma from Ano was of the patronymic group Jabaghte but was replaced by Gasama of Kam-aghte during the expedition's journey. A similar version to that related to Nehemiah Levtzion was told by one Amadu, an elder of Mande. The elders of Kambaya insist, however, that Gasama was the first imam and the elders of the other karamom lineages accept the latter version, while conceding some vague precedence to Mande. According to traditions collected among the Ano of the Ivory Coast at the beginning of this century, the Wattara conquerer of the region, Benye Missa, was accompanied by, among others, an Islamic scholar, Ungara (whose patronym is unfortunately not recorded), who, having constructed a mosque at Auyannu and feeling death approaching, did not appoint a successor from among his family but appealed to the Muslim community of Kong to appoint the next imam of his mosque.The Kong Muslims sent one Keremu Kamaghte, who, on his arrival in Ano, selected Grumania (Mango Tura), the royal seat, as the site for his mosque. It is possible that it was during the period prior to the departure of Biema and Soma from Ano that the Kamaghte had established their pre-eminent position as Muslims among the Ano. An elder of Mande, Amadu, relates that Mama Bamba, his ancestor, was deposed by Biema because Gasama was a more knowledgeable Islamic scholar and adds that Mama Bamba's offspring began to drink millet beer, became apostates and went raiding with the Wattara donzom. Despite their becoming donzom (Mande has its own n'gyem lineages), the members of the family retained some-thing of their Muslim heritage. The elders of Mande were acknowledged as those who had the right to mediate in conflicts between donzom lineages, a not infrequent occurrence, or to intervene on behalf of persecuted n'gyem subjected to arbitrary decisions taken by their donzom masters. Although accepted as donzom and furnished with foot soldiers, the elders of Mande were also acknowledged as just men, skilled in questions of Muslim law. With the exception of the apostate Mande lineage, the Muslim karamom did not take part in the actual fighting, but they were consulted in order to establish the propitious date for the departure of a raiding party and they prepared and fired a magical gun, which provided the signal for the beginning of an attack and guaranteed its success. They also made the talismans which, sewn into leather pouches, covered the Anufom war jackets and incidentally provided a light armour against the poisoned arrows of their opponents. The karamom also celebrated the annual Muslim festivals and such customs as name-giving, circumcision and burials, to which the donzom, lukewarm Muslims who also practised a number of non-Muslim rituals, adhered. Kambaya retained its pre-eminence in providing the Imam of Sansanne Mango until the end of the nineteenth century. New Muslim lineages were founded in the town during the last twenty-five years of the pre-colonial period. According to the elders of Shirabu, their ancestor Ali Sualiu, a Muslim scholar of Kong, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, was invited by the elders of Sangbana to remain in Sansanne Mango as their counsellor. The period of his arrival in the town coincides with the regencies of Soma and Ashura, the two nineteenth-century femem chosen from the lineage of Sangbana in the absence of suitable candidates among the members of Jabu. The invitation points to Sangbana, having gained supremacy, trying to emulate Jabu by securing its own Muslim lineage. However, on losing the feme-title to Jabu in 1883, Sangbana was unable to challenge, on behalf of its new karamo-lineage, Shirabu, the sole right of Kambaya to the imamship. A second event and its consequence, the conversion of the majority of the town's population to Islam have, paradoxically, contributed to the weakening of Kambaya's former status. As we have noted above, religious behaviour among the Anufom was, until after the imposition of German colonial rule, an expression of the individual's membership in one of the three estates. Karamom were all practising Muslims and at least some members of each such lineage were literate; the donzom retained such Islamic customs as circumcision. Under the tutelage of the Kambaya Imam, Sani Abdulaye, the counsellor of feme Biema Kokore and, until his death in 1970, of feme Tyaba Tyokura, the majority of the pagan population converted to Islam. But rather than strengthening the authority of the traditional Muslim scholars of Sansanne Mango, the conversion of the town-dwelling Anufom to Islam led to a further erosion of the former prestige of the Kambaya karamom. A number of the early donzom converts, particularly from Sangbana and Fomboro, gave sons as scholars, not to the traditional teachers of Sansanne Mango who would also have employed the children of their masters in their fields, but to itinerant tutors from the Mande region who passed through the town on pilgrimages to Mecca or journeys to the east. These youths followed their masters to regions with very much stronger traditions of Islamic scholarship than Sansanne Mango and, after many years of study, some have returned to their home. The role of the hereditary karamom can no longer be defined in terms of religious beliefs and unique claims to the mastery of certain skills such as literacy. The exclusive rights to the imamship of Mango's Friday mosque of the lineages Kambaya and Shirabu have not, as yet, been seriously challenged from within Anufo society but the quality of their scholarly abilities is evident to many of the new Muslims, who frequently prefer to send their children to the new qur'anic schools of more widely-travelled instructors. Paradoxically, the praise songs of Shirabu celebrates not the founder Ali Saliu but Ahamadu who is often referred to as the ‘Garman liman’ (sic). In order to counterbalance the loss of their former pre-eminent status as Muslims in Sansanne Mango, the members of Kambaya have turned beyond the slowly decaying structure of Anufo society to fragments of the griots' tales of the origins of Mande patronymic groups, and to the traditions of the origins of Islam in West Africa, in their search for adequate identity. They lend authority to their claims of direct descent from the ' forty-one ' a'imma of Ano and thus to Ankibu Bunyansah, the Muslim scholar who is said to have brought Islam to West Africa.
CHAPTER FIVE5.0COLONISATION IN ANUFO LAND
The dispatch of missions to the hinterland by European powers to sign treaties with the chiefs was the dawn of colonisation. The Anufom were made to sign treaties with the Germans, French and the British without in most cases knowing the implications of such treaties. A colonial gazette of 28th August 1896 formally signalled the occupation of Sansanne Mango by the Germans which annoyed the British because Ekem Ferguson had two years earlier signed a treaty on behalf of Britain. As a counter move to the occupation, Britain occupied Gambaga. To calm nerves in pursuit of their colonial agenda, the British and the Germans entered into negotiation culminating in the Anglo – German agreement signed on 14th November, 1899. Under the agreement, Britain ceded to the Germans the land from Sang about thirty miles (or 50km) from Yendi on the Yendi – Tamale Road to Sansanne Mango, with Sansanne Mango as the District Capital and Yendi sub-District Capital.
5.1 GERMAN COLONISATION
The arrival of the German colonial expedition in Sansanne Mango in 1896 brought a radical change. Von Carnap-Quernheimb and von Seefried arrived in the town, then under the rule of feme Biema Asabi of Jabu, in January 1896. By March, Biema had agreed to allow the Germans to establish a station there. After the arrival of von Gruner and Gaston Thierry, Biema, together with representatives of Sangbana, Badara and Fomboro, and of the Imam and the host of Hausa caravans passing through the town, signed a treaty granting the Germans the exclusive right to erect stations on his territories. The German expedition departed from Sansanne Mango immediately afterwards, leaving only Phillip Quarkie, an African interpreter, to occupy the station during its absence. Von Gruner (who had maintained some contact with Mango during his further travels by corresponding in Arabic with the Imam) and Gaston Thierry returned to the town only in mid-November. On arrival they discovered that a small French expedition from Fada N'Gurma had visited Sansanne Mango. Its leader had persuaded Biema Asabi to tear down the German flagpole and sign treaty with France. The destruction of the flagpole suggested that Biema Asabi had either simply misunderstood the terms of the German treaty or merely granted what he understood to be trading rights to the French as well. He had apparently reversed his earlier decision and chosen to accept French rather than German suzerainty. Whether he had consulted the members of his court cannot be determined. During a meeting between Thierry and the town dignitaries on 26 November, the Anufom “sympathetic” toward German aims' claimed to know nothing of a treaty with the French. As subsequent events were to show, opinion in the town was divided but Biema Asabi was tragically un-aware of the intentions of his opponents. Wedged between a British force operating to the west of Gambaga and French forces both to the north and the east of Sansanne Mango, the German expedition was engaged in establishing the future dimensions of their colony of Togo by the creation of as many small administrative posts as possible. It was in competition with the French and British groups. Relations between the rival European expeditions were frequently tense and sometimes came little short of belligerence. The Germans charged with establishing effective control on the spot were not prepared, in the face of their rivals, to enter into prolonged re-negotiations with vacillating African chieftains. Thierry demanded Biema Asabi's presence at the German station. On 28 November, however, Thierry received a message purporting to originate from the feme to the effect that he was not prepared to place his case before the Germans. Later in the day the Germans at their station, which lay between the Oti River and the town, heard the royal drums being beaten and the sound of gunfire, and saw smoke rising from burning mats above the Jabu compound. To Thierry, the dispute seemed about to deteriorate into armed conflict between the Anufom and the Germans. Nevertheless, he did not act immediately. What Biema had really said in his reply to the Germans is unknown but there is agreement that the feme was quite unaware of Thierry's assessment of the situation. Biema's message had been completely distorted. The drumming, the gunshots and the smoke proclaimed the beginning of the ten days' celebration of Biema's marriage, during which time he, as a donzo, would be unable to leave his own compound. Today, the Anufom are reluctant to name the go-betweens sent by Biema to bear his replies to the Germans. Biema was unwittingly sending his secret opponents with the crucial messages. On 2nd December, Thierry, no longer prepared to tolerate the feme's apparently disdainful disregard of his requests, sent an armed party of African askaris (Soldiers) to bring Biema Asabi by force to the German station. The great crowd gathered at the Jabu “le” (the entrance hut to a compound, in which, in the case of Jabu, the feme held court and in which all major ceremonies are celebrated) resisted the intrusion. The nervous askaris fired into the gathering and some twenty persons, including Biema Asabi, were killed. During the following night, the donzom of Jabu, Badara, and donzom-Kajura gathered their n'gyem soldiers and, at six o'clock the next morning, attacked the German station. The action was futile. Despite repeated attacks by 'several hundred men armed with muskets', Thierry's mounted troops with their superior weaponry easily repulsed the Anufom, who finally fled into the bush toward Nalori area on the other side of River Oti. Thierry later allowed the refugees to return to Mango on payment of a fine. The then Imam of Mango referred to as Mahamdu was also allowed to return but was subsequently removed from office by Thierry and at the instigation of Ajanda, Ahamadu of Shirabu – the Karamo lineage adopted by Sangbana some twenty-five years previously was appointed Imam.
5.2EMIGRATION FROM SANSANNE MANGO
During their perennial raids into the non Anufo territories, some of them remained and settled at the territories captured while the majority returned home. Thus small Anufo settlements begun to spring up outside Mango. There was however accelerated emigration from Sansanne Mango on the advent of German colonization of Anufom. Under German rule, Togo was regarded as the “model colony” of Germany in Africa and was based on establishment of plantations. To ensure native labour for these estates, the natives were subjected to poll tax per head annually. In order to pay it, and with rare exception, they were obliged to sell themselves for a part of the year. To add to this, they were subjected to annual corvees. In large gangs, they were transported from one part of the country to another and, under conditions which caused a high rate of mortality, forced to labour on making roads and other works. There were also the same punishments without inquiry and the same abuse of the lash for infringements of a code of which the natives remained totally ignorant.
It should be noted also that, after the imposition of German colonial rule, Anufom could no longer demand and obtain livelihood from the villages under the threat of force. Many left Mango to settle among the villagers they had formerly exploited. Anufo society became ruralised as the former inhabitants of the war camp sought a new living as farmers in the villages they had once forced to support them.
Some not used to menial work coupled with internal donzo rivalry, left to settle outside of Mango out of the easy reach of the Germans. They now raided to settle and not to carry the spoils back to Mango. A number of settlements sprung up along both banks of the Oti River and its tributaries. They displaced the indigenes. Some of these indigenes were captured and enslaved while others escaped and relocated. They however maintained ties with their kinsmen and subjected themselves to the court of Nzara feme. They often visited Mango for festivals and other customary celebrations. This author traces the sojourn of his great, great grandfather Maala the founder of his village – Naturi to Nadika in the Sangbana quarters of Mango through Komongu where he settled briefly, moved southward, crossed the Oti River, displacing the Komba settlers and settled permanently at Naturi. The family lay claim to a portion of land on both sides of the Oti River. In fact as late as the early 2000’s the family had the sole right to authorize communal fishing in some ponds on the Togo side of the Oti River. Until recently no prominent member of the family (especially family head) is buried without representation and/or consent of the Nadika family head. There is even today a relationship between Mala awulu of Naturi and Nabue dika of Sangbana – Banjani (both trace their roots to Nadka) where certain ritual /ceremony cannot be performed in a household without the representation of the other.
CHAPTER SIX
6.0 POST WORLD WAR 1
With the advent of World War1, a British platoon led by one Lt. Bellew, stationed at Sang was ordered to capture Mango after overrunning Yendi on 14th August, 1914. At that time, the Oti River had overflown its bank and therefore the platoon could not cross the river and had to pitch camp at Yawgu, about seven miles from Sansanne Mango at the other side of the Oti River. Meanwhile, the French who were in Dahomey (now Benin) moved to capture Mango.
6.1 PARTITION OF ANUFOLAND
Anufom were thus divided both geographically divided into the Mango and Nalori sectors. Nalori is a name of a village which in pre-colonial times had the largest market in the Anufo occupied zone of the trans-Oti. It was the main route before the Mango – Yendi road was built. As a result the area west off the Oti River from Mango was referred to as Nalori. From 1914 until 1920, Nalori was a “no Man’s –land” disputed by the French and the British. Traditional politics was reduced to the level of kinship relations in and among the various Nalori groups. The ties with the patron houses in Mango were eased and those with Dagomba in Yendi had not yet begun.
This made each village (or number of villages sharing the same Mango patronymic) autonomous. Each village (mie) had a political and jural headman called miekpe (lit land or village elder) who is invariably the eldest of descendants of the village founder or conqueror. Villages normally have a number of households. Each household has a head who is the eldest of the descendants of the founder.Succession to village/household headship as well as to all ritual and political office is restricted to members of the village/household and passes from father to father’s brothers rather than to their sons.
The largest of these groups was Ando controlled by their headman Bonkani. Nalori was taken over by the British on 1st November 1920 (GNA Admn. 67/5/3,350). The League of Nations formally granted Togoland as a mandated territory to Britain and France in 1922.
The Anufo settlements west of Oti River became part of the British mandated territory. Chereponi sited along the Mango – Yendi road became a rest stop-stop and a trading centre and replacing Nalori village during this colonial period. The Anufom who hitherto owed allegiance to the Nzara feme were separated from their chief by the agreement, Nalori came under the jurisdiction of the Dagomba traditional authority, and Malba, who was Bonkani’s nephew and messenger boy, was put in charge to represent at the traditional authority.
6.2 BRITISH COLONISATION
For administrative convenience, the British divided the New Territory into three districts; Dagomba, Mamprusi and Gonja. By Colonial Order i.e. Section 3 of the Administrative Ordinance of the Protectorate as applied to Northern Section by Article 5 of Togoland under British Mandate in Council, 1923, Chereponi became part of Dagomba District, so also was Nanumba despite the protestation of M. Ruppel the German representative on the Permanent Mandate Commission who had preferred it joining Mamprusi instead. The division of the British sphere of Togoland among the territorial components of the Gold Coast in 1921 was ostensibly influenced by the ethnic, linguistic and cultural affiliations of the people living in the adjacent areas of the two countries. The above criteria were non-existent in some cases. To digress a little, earlier in September 1901, Britain had declared a Protectorate over the Northern Territories. In the aftermath of War1, the British decided to involve chiefs in the administration of the protectorate. Their powers were increased allowing them to rule their subjects as far as compactible with equity and good government. There were difficulties in implementing this policy. In the first place, the British did not find any ‘really big chiefs’. The few sizeable kingdoms such as Mamprugu and Gonja had either been broken up by the wars of Samory and Babatu or internal wranglings. In the case of Dagbon, it had been partitioned between Britain and Germany. The result was that the three kingdoms of Dagbon, Mamprugu and Gonja were so highly decentralized that the divisional chiefs were all independent. It was therefore incumbent that the British restructure the institution.
The British then created a hierarchy of chiefs. Therefore, chiefs and head chiefs were created among the Frafras, Kasems and Builsa under the Nayiri who was declared Paramount Chief of the North Eastern Province. Numerous small and unassimilated groups such as Nawuris, Nchumuru, Mo and Valga were grouped under Gonja Chief. These acts had no traditional sanction. It was under this circumstances that Anufom who now found themselves under British rule were added to Dagbon without their consent.
Despite the professed policy to rule through chiefs, the British regarded the chiefs at best as useful auxiliaries to district administration in such matters as providing labourers for the roads and mines or transporting goods and persons. Traditional matters were generally allowed to run their course so long as they were not repugnant to British law and administrative exigencies. It reduced chiefs to status of agents of colonialist with little or no claim to traditional authority and completely depended on the colonial administration.
6.3 THE ANUFOM - DAGBON RELATIONS
There was no formal traditional relationship between Anufom and Dagombas pre dating European colonialism in Africa. The few contacts were skirmishes conducted in their neighbourhood for slaves and food supplies. It was only after the Adibo War of December 1896 where Dagomba was defeated and brought under German rule. Yendi then became a subdistrict under Mango district of German Togoland.No one could gainsay that Anufo – Dagbon relationship was more of political creation rather than traditional allegiance.As stated above, the first formal contact was through German colonisation between December 1896 and August 1914 when Germany unconditionally surrendered German Togoland. With the partition of Anufoland, the Britain took over the lands off the western bank of the Oti River in November 1920 (GNA, ADM. 67/5/3, 350)
The British had a policy of not recognizing the authority of a paramount chief residing outside its colonial territory. It is worth noting that Dagbon suffered that fate when Western Dagomba (Karaga, Savelegu and surroundings) by fiat of the then British Colonial Commissioner, Major Morris was declared autonomous of the Ya- Na who was then residing in German territory and elevated the Karaga Na and Yoo (Savelegu) Na to similar status in 1901. This was a major issue during the 1930 Conference and is still today in respect of who should be the recognized chief of Tamale- Gulkpe Na or the Dakpema?
It was at this time that the British were introducing the concept of indirect rule in the Northern Territories and therefore needed a chief for the Chokosis. At the time, settlements around Chereponi under their headmen owed allegiance to their Chief in Mango (Nzara Feme) which could not continue under the British Colonial administration. The then Ya Na Aburu Satankuyili II recommended his friend Kofika whom he had worked with in the construction of the Yendi - Mango road during the German colonial period to the British. He was then enskinned and inducted into the Dagbon Traditional Council by fiat of the colonial administration. The Ya Na traditionally refers to the Chereponi Feme Nzo (friend) and does not regard him as a subject. He was made a Divisional Chief under the Ya Naa with the same status as Karaga Naa, Yoo (Savelegu)Naa, Sunson, Naa, Gushiegu Naa and the only non Dogomba on the Traditional Council.
There has been the belief especially among the Dagomba intelligentsia that Chereponi lands belong to the Ya Na. This might be due to the misreading of Appendix II of the minutes (page 24) of the 1930 Conference which set out the boundaries of Dagbon after the District Commissioner had held preliminary conferences with the Ya Na and his Chiefs. These chiefs included the Chereponi Feme who is a member of the Dagbon Council and therefore the inclusion of his land was expected. There is clarity of this on page 29 of the said minutes, where there was an acknowledgement that the Chereponi chief was a foreigner to Dagbon living on his own land.
The assertion that all lands under the Dagomba Traditional Council is vested in the Ya Na has found expression in a proposed Constitution of the Dagbon State Council. This is simply a rehash of the conclusion of the I R Alhassan Committee. When the Supreme Military Council (SMC) government under Gen I K Acheampong repealed L I 87 and 109 of 1963 with respect to Northern Territories Lands emanating from the 1927 Ordinance, the natural question that came up was to whom should the lands be returned since they were not taken from any identifiable group in the first instance.
To answer that question, the SMC set up the Committee on “Ownership of Land and position of Tenants in Northern and Upper Regions” under the Chairmanship of I R Alhassan in 1978 to investigate in whom the lands should be vested. The committee’s composition as well as conclusions were controversial. Its ethnic composition was unusually skewed and dominated by members of the four Northern Region chiefly groups (6 out of the 12 members came from the Northern Region majority ethnic groups, 2 from the Upper Region and 4 from the South). None from the 13 so called Northern Region minority groups. Its conclusion was self-serving as it recommended that the land should be vested in the chiefs of the four majority groups on the grounds of conquest rather than indigeneity or existing freeholds to the exclusion of the thirteen minority groups. It was neither surprising nor unexpected.
The question that should agitate an objective mind is how and when the Ya Na became the allodial owner of the Chereponi land. To answer this question, we should define who has allodial title to land in Ghana. According to a British Colonial Assistant Commissioner of Lands R H Poguck (in his dissertation: Allodial Rights) the concept of ownership of allodial rights in land is based on occupation of land by a conqueror, or settler. In his contribution to the discourse on allodial title to land, Ibrahim Mahama a prominent Tamale Lawyer affiliated to Dagbon royalty reiterated similarly in his book Ethnic Conflicts in Northern Ghana this fact that tribal land in Ghana is acquired either by conquest or by long undisturbed occupation or by grant.
From the above, the Ya Na cannot claim allodial right to Chereponi lands. There is no oral or recorded history of conquest of Chereponi lands by Dagombas. Also, there has never been any history of Dagomba settlement on Chereponi land. The closest settlement was at Zagbeli about 25 kilometres from Chereponi. Even then, the Dagomba residents - a chief and his retinue were sent as a representative of the Sunson Na, who was a chief of a village about seventy kilometres from Chereponi.Tragically, in 1940, this chief, his family and his retinue were killed, and household burnt by the Konkomba’s he was made chief over; after the chief attempted to take advantage of a colonial vaccination program to collect a bull as a fine from an owner of unvaccinated cattle. That ended Dagomba settlement there.
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6.3ANUFOM VIEWS ON THE 1956 PLEBICITE
6.3.1BRITISH ANUFOM
Two members of the Mission met the Chereponi Feme, the elders of the area and members of the local council on 20th August 1955. The Chereponi feme told the Mission that his people wanted integration with the Gold Coast and that they did not want to be separated from the latter territory, under the administration of which they had been for nearly forty years. He hoped the Anufom living under the French would eventually be allowed to join their brothers in the British territory. There was no dissenting views expressed. However, after the meeting, the Mission received four communications requesting unification; two of these were from the Natural Rulers of Chokosi People of Togoland and the Chokosi Branch of the Togoland Youth Organisation. They wanted the unification of the parts of Togoland as a means of re-uniting the Chokosi tribe. The two other communications were from refugees from Togo under French administration now living in Chereponi. Their complaint was about persecution by the French and requested the unification of the two parts of Togoland.
6.3.2 FRENCH ANUFOM
At Mango, the Mission met the paramount chief N’djambara N’tchaba, members of the conceal de circumscription, the local representative in the Territorial Assembly and the representative of the local branch of JNT and PTP, on 17th September 1955. The paramount Chief praised the achievement of the French administration and requested that the United Nations trusteeship be terminated and that the territory be integrated in the French Union. He also stated that he wanted the unification of the two parts of Togoland, provided that the unified territory will be placed under French administration. His views were supported by all at the hearing. The sole exception to the support given to the above views was a written statement submitted in person by the chief – N’djambara N’tchaba accompanied by a small group of supporters who urged unification and independence of the two Trust Territories and stated that a plebiscite held under United Nations supervision would be the only solution to the problem of the future of Togoland. The result of the Plebiscite showed that either side opted for the status quo with the British Anufom joining the Gold Coast to become Ghana at Independence on 6th March 1957 and French Anufom remained under France trustship until 27th April 1960 when they gained their independence from France.
CHAPTER SEVEN
7.0 CHIEFTAINCY (FEME) INSTITUTION IN ANUFOLAND
Feme is a Mande term originally meaning ‘the sword bearer or he who acquires power by military conquest. Among the donzom, only members of Jabu the descendants of the first feme Biema had access to the title feme until the imposition of German colonial rule. However, in the absence of suitable candidate from Jabu, two grandsons of Soma the founder of Sangbana held the title between about 1875 and 1883. (Seefried 1913) Much later the German colonisers introduced the rotational system of succession between the Jabu and the Sangbana donzos after what was seen as a rebellion against the German authorities alluded to earlier. In pre-colonial times this role appears to have been that of a primus inter pares; his court, comprising the elders of each of the other donzom lineages, and the femebam, the sons of the previous rulers of Sansanne Mango, were the real focal point of all political activities.
7.1ROTATION OF FEMESHIP BETWEEN JABU AND SANGBANA IN MANGO
Persuaded by those donzom who had not taken part in the assault, it was decided that succession to the title of feme be alternated between Jabu and Sangbana. Thierry arranged the election of Jerima, a leading figure of the lineage Sangbana, who took the name Ajanda on his accession. In this manner, a system of rotational succession, not a custom of the Anufom, was introduced by the new colonial power. Although Thierry allowed the refugees to return to Sansanne Mango on payment of a fine, there is among the signatories of the document confirming the election of Ajanda no representative of either Badara or donzo-Kajura and only the mark of 'Njamma, brother of Biema' indicates an attendance by members of Jabu. The Imam of Sansanne Mango, referred to as Mahamadu by both Thierry and von Gruner, was also allowed to return to the town but was subsequently removed from office by Thierry and, at the instigation of Ajanda, Ahamadu of Shirabu from the karamo-lineage adopted by Sangbana some twenty-five years previously was appointed Imam. By skilfully manipulating German incomprehension of Anufo custom, Sangbana had within a few months reconstructed the Anufo political organization and raised itself to a position of mirror equivalence to its rival kin of Jabu. In doing so, it had also destroyed the pre-eminence of Kambaya to the Imamship. The notion of alternating succession between the two 'gates' of Jabu and Sangbana to the office of feme is now accepted as a structural principle by the majority of the people of Sansanne Mango. Access to the imamship by both Kambaya and Shirabu reflects the structural equivalence of the two donzo-lineages, and not a simple extension of the same principle to a subordinate estate. Succession to the imamship by a member of the other karamo-lineage does not occur on the death of the incumbent. A newly installed feme of either Jabu or Sangbana deposes the Imam of his predecessor and installs his own Muslim counsellor as imam of the Friday mosque. The town's population has also accepted this system, but the karamom of Kambaya do not acknowledge the Shirabu counsellor of a Sangbana feme as Imam of Sansanne Mango and exclude such names from their list of the former incumbents of this office in the town. The feme, Iman, and the Galadima (Secretary of State) all received salaries under the Germans and were reduced to mere figureheads.
The feme, or in modern parlance, ‘chef sueprieur de la circonscription administrative de Mango’ is now elected by the population of the town as are the non – Anufom and former tribute paying ‘chefs de canton’ of the whole administrative district.
ANUFO FEMEM (CHIEFS) IN `MANGO
7.2CHIEFTAINCY IN BRITISH ANUFO
The British had a policy of not recognizing the authority of a paramount chief residing outside its colonial territory. Earlier in 1901, the British Commissioner Major Morris simply informed an assembly of twenty-two western Dagomba chiefs that since the Ya Naa was now in German territory, he and not the Ya Naa was the head chief and vested authority instead in the persons of the Karaga Naa and Yo (Savelugu) Naa, both of them in British Dagomba.
Under the British colonial administration, Nalori came under the jurisdiction of the Dagomba traditional authority and Malba, who was Bonkani’s nephew and messenger boy between him and the “white man” was put in charge. (Kirby 1984:41) Traditional contacts with Mango though much weaker, are still important and obligations to supply cloth or animals at ceremonies, such as those of marriages and funerals are honoured.
It is instructive to know that the Chereponi Feme was and is still never invited to discuss purely Dagbon internal issues but attends Dagbon Traditional Council meeting mostly when issues emanating from government or on development are slated for deliberation. That is why Chereponi has never been involved or mentioned in the internal conflict of Dagbon. It is also worthy of note that traditionally, the Ya-Naa refers to Chereponi Feme as his friend. A narration of the traditional friendship between the Yaa Naa and Chereponi Feme traces the friendship back to that struck between Aburu Satankuyili, the elder son of Yaa Naa Alasani Tipariga who later became Yaa Naa Aburu Satankuyili ll and Kofika who later became the first Chereponi Feme. Aburu had to undertake the tortuous route between Yendi and Sansanne Mango on behalf of his father who was too old to undertake such journeys, while Kofika was the foreman of one of the gangs constructing the Yendi – Sansanne Mango road under the German colonial administration and most times acted as a guide during Aburu’s visit to Mango. At the time the British were extending their indirect rule to the Mandated Trust territory, Aburu was the Yaa Naa under the skin name Yaa Naa Aburu Satankuyili ll. As was done earlier in the case of Dagbon during German colonization of Yendi, the British severed ties between the Anufom in its territory from the Nzara feme and added it to Dagbon for administrative convenience . An Anufo was therefore needed to represent Anufom on the Dagbon Traditional Council. Ya Naa looked out for his acquaintance and friend Kofika for that position and is reported to have made the famous statement “Nzo Malba” literally, my friend, take care of them.
Kofika assumed Malba as his skin name and had since been adopted by the ruling family. Eight chiefs have occupied the Malba skin from the first chief who was unskinned around 1923 to 2021.
THE MALBA DYNASTY
Kofika Malba I from 1923 to 1944Jaminja Malba ll “ 1944 to 1945Kofi-kan Malba lll “ 1945 to 1968Awuffor Abdulai Malba lV “ 1969 to 1987Kofi Abubakari Malba V “ 1987 to 2004Jaminja Gomna Malba Vl “ 2008 to 2017Jaminja Kofi Malba Vll “ 2018 to 2018Nanyame Kofi Malba Vlll “ 2019 to date
Some historical facts worthy of note are: the Malba Skin was elevated to a paramountcy in 1992.The Malba Skin is the only skin among the paramount skins of Dagbon Traditional Council that the Yaa Naa does not nominate but only endorse and enskins after nomination by the Malba family. The succession to the skin is based on the oldest male in the family at the time unless he declines. Jaminja Kofi Malba Vll the first grandson of Malba l to ascend to the skin reigned for the shortest period – five months, and his father Jaminja Malba ll who happened to be the first son of Malba l had the shortest reign among the sons – less than two years. Jaminja Gomna Malba Vll was the last of the sons of Malba l to ascend the skin.
The Anufoland especially from the 1980s` has witness crave for chieftaincy titles. Villages which hitherto had only headmen known as ‘Miekpem’ are now having chiefs enskinned by the Chereponi Feme or directly by the Yaa Naa. This crave for chieftaincy titles is largely influenced by Dagbon culture. The antecedence to this phenomenon could be traced to the succession to the Malba skin. Following the tradition of Dagbon where he was enskinned, the first Malba unilaterally appointed his sons as sub chiefs over a number of villages. On his death, his son Jaminja who acted for him in his later years due to old age succeeded him without much fuss. Upon Jaminja’s death, his brother, Kofika who was nominated by the family to succeed him, was fiercely contested by others who traced their ancestry to the chieftaincy patronymics in Mango. Subsequent to the enskinnment of Kofika Malba III, Yaa Naa had to enskin the main contestants - Gonga as chief of Nansoni and Baye, Chief of Ando (Chere) to lower tension in the area. Despite this gesture, these two together with their supporters distanced themselves from the Chereponi Feme and styled themselves as the “Natural Chiefs” to opt for Unification with Togo during the 1956 Plebiscite.
7.3 RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
The perpetuation of appointing of Malba princes as chiefs over other communities was gradually challenged, and drawing from what had happened in Nasoni and Chere earlier, these communities/villages nominated their own persons direct to the Yaa Na to be enskinned without the concurrence of the Chereponi Feme. This development has created tension in some communities as some villages have two chiefs. The position of sub-chief is now open theoretically to anyone with the capital and political backing to aspire to the post.
An unintentional challenge posed by this phenomenon is the power play between the miekpe and the village feme as to their distinct roles in the village. Another worrying development is that some of these chiefs have tried to extend their jurisdiction to neighbouring villages without their consent raising tension.
The sooner there is a deliberate delineation of powers of the miekpe and the village feme, the better. Also, there should be strong presentation to the Yaa Naa to delegate his power of enskinment if he has that power at all to the Chereponi Feme to promote peace in the Anufo (Chereponi) Traditional Area.
1. Edward Graham Norris : Atakora Mountain. Regugees System of Exploitation in Northern Togo. (1986) Pgs 109-1362. Omoru Dabia : Chakosi Chronicle3. Archives Nationales du Togo (ANT)
Fond Allemand (FA) Dr. Gruner's Report on Samsame mango 1897
4. ANT FA 3/4009 Graf Van Zech 10/06/19115. Dela Fossi Maurice: Hant-Senegal Niger Vol 2. Paris ( 1912)6. Goody Jack: The Ethnography of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast- West of the White Volta ( 1954)7. Kirby Jon P. God, Shrine and Problem solving among the Anufom of Northern Ghana (1986)8. The Northern Territories of the Gold Coast under British Colonial Rule-1897-1956_ A study in Political Change.
A desertation by Nana James Kwaku Brukum. 1997
9. Cornvin Histoire du Togo, Paris: Berger Levrault 1962
Dynasties Tyokossi de Sansanne Mango Annales de l'Ecole des Lettres I: 9-24. 1972 Goody: Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa, London 1971
10. Westermann D, M.A. Bryan. The language of West Africa. Oxford 195211. Barth H. Reisen and Entdeckungen in Nord
Central-Afrika 1849-55 Bde ( 1857-58)
12. Madiega Y. Le Nord Gulina . Precolonial ( Haute Volta) Origine des dynasties approach de la Societe ( 1978)13. Wilksin Curtin14. Wargee of Astrokhan: Africa Remembered. ed. P. Curtin Madision15. Alby 1895 Report on Mission in Upper Dahamey The second Mission of Mr Alby, Directeur des Affares Poltique in Dahamey to the Governor of Dahamey, Parto Novo 18th May 189516. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq of Timbukutu: Africa Remebered ( Ed. P. Curtin)17. Hilton Notes on the History of Kusasi Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 6ii 79-81 ( 1962)18. Rattary R.S. The tribes of the Ashanti Hinterland 2 Volumes. London ( 1932)19. Goody J. Mustapha : The Caravan trade from Kano to Salaga. Journal of the Historical society of Nigeria 34:611-616