Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 126
water.' Next Shiwra Gakatsa in Korana Basa blew his ghramba [a big flute] and shouted back:
‘Kill them all! Don’t allow a single one of them to escape.’
The following three people, Varangwa, Hwa, and Rahafte, all members of the entourage, did not
know where to run first. Galdawa Gaku’ale came over from Korana Basa and tried to spear them.
Hawa and Rakafke could not come back to Korana Basa, where they had been bulamas.
Next the people from Gwoza came up to take the corpse of lawan Buba. When people heard about
his death, every house in Gwoza was mourning. The bulamas too had escaped to Gwoza where the
district head had to buy them new clothes. However, they had to hide there, fearing revenge from
lawan Buba’s family. Dr Chandler, the doctor at the Gwoza hospital, had to treat the injured
bulamas.
Seven days after the burial of lawan Buba, before the seventh day, they had written a letter for
soldiers and white officers to come. A total of 1060 came to be stationed at Gwoza. The bulamas
and the soldiers came up to Ghwa’a via Kwalika and through Gharguze [Korana Basa]. The
officers exercised the soldiers in Kwalika. When they came to Drime [a part of Hudimche] they
conducted another exercise. The soldiers were told not to take side with Ghwa’a. They proceeded
to Gharaza. There the officers also ensured the support of Gharaza. Now they were calling for the
people of Ghwa’a but nobody was at home.
Next Gade Maiduguri, a Dghweɗe man who lived in Gwoza, met Ndawa Gakhwisa of Ghwa’a
who was hiding in a tsukwana [a ficus variety]. However, Ndawa was not arrested and therefore
went home. Sangwite Gatapa was also called and asked to call back his people to which he agreed.
There was a nice white officer present [presumably Mr Rees]. Sangwite went up to call for his
people at Durghwe [mountain shrine in Ghwa’a], but they refused to come. The officers said to
Sangwite that he would only set fire to seven houses, and that all they wanted was to know why
they killed lawan Buba. Sangwite went around to call for people but they refused to come.
Now they set fire to seven houses. After that, they settled in Barike and the bulamas were with
them. They killed a large number of sheep and goats to feed the soldiers. Wurawa Gandama’s cow
did run from the Guduf side, where it had been hidden, and it was also killed and consumed. Some
of the property of the people of Klala [in Ghwa’a] were taken away by people from Korana Basa.
Around midnight nine stubborn Dghweɗe men came and started shouting and threw stones at the
soldiers. The whole place was in confusion as a result. Some people tried to escape to the white
officer's place [presumably a tent]. The white officers now decided to set fire to many houses
around.
Eventually, a few elders came with leaves on their back [indicating that they were like women and
ready to surrender]. The officers addressed the elders and told them to call for their people. They
warned them not to repeat such a thing again and that they should re-roof the barracks. Next, the
officers and soldiers went down to Gwoza, including the bulamas from the hills. The soldiers had
been stationed in Ghwa’a for 13 days.
Taɗa Nzige went to settle in Korana Basa for three years. Bulama Fulata spent seven years in
Gwoza before he was called back home to Ghwa’a. Dzutha Katiwa spent nine years in Gwoza
before he came back. Khwisa Gadawa died after two years in Korana Basa. Gazawa also died after
two years in Gwoza. Only Rahafke and Fulata lived for some years before they died.
Taɗa Nzige’s account gives us a good insight into the incident from the perspective of the
involved bulamas (ward heads). We remember the official British account, which
recommended the dismissal of the bulamas of Ghwa’a (Johode) because they could no longer
retain the confidence of their fellow villagers. Taɗa Nzige was trying to rectify this view by
giving a detailed account of how the bulamas had been literally beaten into submission in
Gwoza. His account does demonstrate a level of complicity between the different levels of the
native authority, first in Bama and then in Gwoza, which seems to remain unrecognised in the
British report. We do not know whether McClintock or any other of the British officials had
any idea of what was going on in the background, especially in Gwoza, or whether they
simply turned a blind eye. Taɗa Nzige also mentioned compulsory labour, and we have seen
in the earlier part of this section that resettlement officer Richard Coofer decided not to cancel
a similar situation because he did not want to undermine the district head’s prestige.
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