"MACHETES, BULLETS and TERROR: The forgotten terror of MAITATSINE


blurry image of Maitatsine's corpse


Maitatsine born Muhammad Marwa born in 1927 ( the exact day and month unknown) in Marwa Cameroon. After his education in 1945 he moved to Kano Nigeria. Maitatsine became known for his controversial and extreme teachings of the Qur'an. He preached against the use of modern technology like; radio, TV, watches, cars or even having a lot of money.

He was  exiled by the emir of Kano together with the colonial administration. he later returned to Kano shortly after independence. by the year 1972 Marwa had a significantly increasing number of militant following. his followers were known as "Yan Tatsine".

In 1975, he was again arrested by Nigerian police for slander and public abuse of political authorities But in that period he began to receive acceptance from religious authorities, especially after making hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to mecca. As his following increased in the 1970s, so did the number of confrontations between his adherents and the police. His preaching attracted largely a following of youths, unemployed migrants, and those who felt that mainstream Muslim teachers were not doing enough for their communities.By December 1980, continued Yan Tatsine attacks on other religious figures and police forced the Nigerian army to become involved. Subsequent armed clashes led to the deaths of around 5,000 people, including Maitatsine himself.

Maitatsine died shortly after sustaining injuries in the clashes either from his wounds or from a heart attack. the Nigerian Military cremated Maitatsine's remains, which now rest in a bottle kept at a police laboratory in Kano

Despite Mohammad Marwa's death, Yan Tatsine riots continued into the early 1980s. In October 1982 riots erupted in Bulumkutu, near Maiduguri and in Kaduna to where many Yan Tatsine adherents had moved after 1980. Over 3,000 people died. Some survivors of these altercations moved to Yola, and in early 1984 more violent uprisings occurred in that city.In this round of rioting, Musa Makaniki a close disciple of Maitatsine, emerged as a leader and Marwa's successor. Ultimately, more than 1,000 people died in Yola and roughly half of the city's 60,000 inhabitants were left homeless. Makaniki fled to his hometown of Gombe. where more Yan Tatsine riots occurred in April 1985. After the deaths of several hundred people Makaniki retreated to Cameroon, where he remained until 2004 when he was arrested in Nigeria.

Some analysts view the terrorist group Boko Haram as an extension of Maitatsine.


YUSUF NASIR ZAHRADEEN

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