Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 120
not yet come down to the plains. It is normal practice to go armed in the Unsettled Districts, and
although they were not anticipating trouble, Lawan Buba was armed with a short sword, Baraya
with a Dane gun, and the three followers with bows and arrows, and one of the followers also had
a spear.
On arriving at Johode the whole party sat down at the Rest House for a rest. After an interval
Baraya went to call Lude [Lude Gatapa], one of the settlers who lived nearby, and the three
followers were sent to call the four hamlet heads of Johode and the two remaining settlers. Of the
settlers Lude duly came, but the other two had gone to work on their farms and could not be
found. Lawan Buba then sent the hamlet head to call some of the elders whilst he and the rest of
the Gwoza party searched again for the other two settlers. This search was unsuccessful but Dowa
[Ɗawa Gaghuda], the brother of one of the settlers, was found and the party returned with him to a
meeting place about half a mile to the east of the Rest House where the hamlet heads and some
half-a-dozen elders were now awaiting them. Whilst Lawan Buba was talking to the elders, Dowa,
taking fright, seized the opportunity to run away, and so it was decided to find his wife who was
known to be in a house about three-quarters of a mile away (it is sometimes the practice of the
Gwoza Pagan Court to apprehend the wife of a malefactor, as very frequently he will surrender
himself in consequence). Two of the followers were despatched to call the woman in question, but
when they arrived at the house they found a beer party in session attended by some forty persons.
They approached the owner of the compound who said that if they would wait, the woman would
come in due course, but that at the moment she was busy preparing food. The followers
accordingly sat down and waited. After some time had elapsed Baraya and the hamlet heads
arrived to ascertain the reasons for the delay; the former was anxious to set fire to the house but
was dissuaded. He then called for the owner of the compound, Wasuwe, and demanded that the
girl be handed over. On being given an evasive answer he struck Wasuwe several times and the
girl, with a small child on her back, was then forcibly brought out from the house, and the whole
party returned to where Lawan Buba was awaiting them. The girl was meantime giving the cry for
help. Such a cry is a most serious matter amongst the Pagans and is never disregarded. As a result,
the beer party broke up in disorder and the majority of the guests returned to their houses in a
considerably excited state of mind to obtain their weapons with the intention of trying to effect a
rescue. A breach of peace appeared imminent and the Gwoza party and the four hamlet heads
decided to go back to the Rest House with the girl and Lude, but first Baraya tied Lude’s hands to
his sides to prevent him from escaping. When Lude complained he had his face slapped. As the
party returned they heard the war horns being blown and a large number of men (estimated at over
200), many of whom were armed, began to pursue them shouting threats. At the Rest House a halt
was made and attempt was made to parley. The two prisoners were released, but the attitude of the
villagers remained belligerent and Baraya fired his gun into the air one imagines in the hopes of
frightening them. Seeing, however, that nobody was hurt by this the villagers began their pursuit
again and the party set off for home as quickly as possible. The pace, however, was too fast for
Lawan Buba, who was very much older than any of his companions, and after about half-a-mile he
seized a spear from one of the followers and said that he would take refuge in Gazawa’s house
(one of the hamlet heads). This he did. The pursuit swept by shouting threats particularly against
Baraya, but his lead was sufficient for him and the remainder of the party to reach the
neighbouring village of Kurana Basa unscathed. The villagers, whose tempers were by now
thoroughly aroused, returned to Gazawa’s house where Lawan Buba was known to be sheltering.
An effort by Gazawa to pacify them was brushed aside, and he and the other three hamlet heads,
who were on a rock a hundred yards or so away, were attacked and also forced to flee to Kurana
Basa. Meantime Lawan Buba too was being attacked, and faced by impossible odds and already
severely wounded he came out of the house with considerable gallantry to meet his death in the
open. Later two of the villagers carried the body a short way down to the Gwoza path. There it
was found by the hamlet head of Kurana Basa who had heard of the trouble and had come to
investigate. The body was a mass of wounds from the chest upwards with the head almost severed
from the trunk. He took it into his own village area and handed it over that evening to the men of
Gwoza, who had hurriedly climbed the hill on receipt of the news, with the sensible advice that
they should return immediately to Gwoza and that they should not enter Johode. This advice was
accepted.
After killing Lawan Buba the villagers of Johode burned down the Government Rest House and
the District Head’s house there, and in expectation of early reprisals began to hide their livestock
and to slaughter those animals which could not be hidden.
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