Gogo Habiba

The arrival of British merchants in the early 1860s presented Masaba with another opportunity to curtail his sister's power over the Emirate.

Throughout the decade, he cultivated a strong friendship with these merchants, who supplied him with modern weaponry and a steady flow of firearms.

[1] Gogo Habiba was born in the early 19th-century in Rabba, at the time the capital city of the Nupe Kingdom.

In the late 18th-century, during the second reign of Etsu Ma'azu (r. 1778–1795), Dendo first appeared in Nupeland as a diviner and seller of charms.

Habiba grew to be fond of her younger brother Masaba, who was born to a Nupe princess shortly after her birth.

Not long after his appointment, Usman faced a rebellion from his half-brother Masaba, who believed he was more entitled to the position due to his Nupe lineage.

After being expelled from Rabba in 1833, Masaba allied with the shadow Nupe princes, Idrisu and Tsado, in an effort to overthrow Usman.

After their rebellion failed, Usman adopted the title of Etsu Nupe and established an emirate, pledging his loyalty to the Sokoto Caliphate.

In response to the crisis, the Emir of Gwandu, Ibrahim Halilu, who had authority over Nupeland, traveled to Rabba in 1841.

[6] During these turbulent times, Habiba remained in Rabba, managing the slave trading business she had established before her father's death in 1832.

[1][6] Soon after the return of the Dendo family, the Emirate underwent significant reforms, including relocating the capital to Bida.

By 1860, she moved out of Bida and settled at a slave depot she had established in Badegi-Lapai (now called Badeggi,[3] located in Katcha).

They also warned that her rising popularity could lead to a mass exodus of people from Bida to stay with her at Badegi-Lapai.

She finally accepted this new compound, located in the Bantigi quarters of Bida, and also took possession of the other three buildings she had earlier rejected.

The people saw her as a benevolent and courageous leader who led her soldiers into battle, in contrast to her ruthless and high-handed half-brother.

When British merchants arrived in the early 1860s, Masaba was presented with another opportunity to curtail his sister's influence over the Emirate.

Throughout the 1860s, he had cultivated a strong friendship with these merchants, even permitting them to establish the city of Lokoja, a trading settlement at the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers.