In six generations no man has ever spent more than a week as ruler of Kumbwada, a kingdom in Muslim northern Nigeria. All have died mysteriously just after ascending to the throne.
The father of Hadiza Ahmed, the current queen, was no exception.
"My father decided to see if he could break the spell but he failed. In his first week on the throne he became so sick that he had to abdicate and was rushed out of the village. He died three weeks later," Hadiza said.
PHOTO: AFP
That was nine years ago and Hadiza, 55, has ruled this community of half a million people ever since, despite being part of a culture where leaders are normally men.
Hadiza said that the curse of Kumbwada kingdom started more than two centuries ago when the warrior princess Magajiya Maimuna led her cavalry from Zaria, a town to the north and conquered the kingdom.
"After the conquest Maimuna decided to leave her brother here as ruler, but he fell sick and died within a week. The same thing happened with her second brother and in the end she decided to stay herself and she ruled for 83 years," Hadiza said, adjusting the white veil covering her head and shoulders.
Despite the widely held view in the conservative Muslim north that it is an abomination for a woman to lead traditional and religious institutions, Hadiza looks very much in charge of her domain.
"I don't face any resistance from my subjects, they obey my commands as they obey their God because I'm a fair ruler who ensures justice in my kingdom," she said as the muezzin called the noon prayers.
A handful of her male subjects led by the village's imam Musa Muhammad, who have come to pay homage, listen and nod submissively, clustered around the blue silk-upholstered chair that serves as Hadiza's throne.
The monarch is flanked by her eldest son Danjuma Salihu and her eldest daughter and heir apparent Idris who wears a purple muslin veil.
Danjuma, Hadiza's eldest child does not seem to bear any grudge against his younger half sister Idris, the declared heir to the throne.
"I know and everybody here knows that no man can rule this kingdom and survive. It is not in my own interest to be heir apparent," Salihu said.
Local people say the curse is linked to a large rock, visible from the village. No one goes there to find out more, however, as the few who did never returned.
Married to a local businessman, Hadiza is the only female chief who bore children, thanks to her three marriages before assuming the throne, which produced five children, three of them girls.
The people of the village believe that any woman who assumes the throne becomes barren.
"I'm the chief here but I discharge my domestic duties as a wife and mother. However my husband knows his limits, royalty is royalty," Hadiza said with a dignified smile.
Four hundred kilometers away in Kano, northern Nigeria's commercial hub and a flashpoint for sectarian and political strife, Muslim leaders frown at the idea of a woman leading a community.
"The fact that any man who assumes the throne dies in a week strongly suggests the use of black magic which Islam absolutely condemns," Aminuddeen Abubakar, a prominent Muslim cleric said. "Once there is evidence of magic in any situation Islam considers it a deviation which must be reversed."
However, Musa Muhammad, the imam of Kumbwada thinks differently.
"This is an exceptional situation none of us can change. A woman chief is a necessity given our peculiar circumstances," he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS