[2] The town was one of the southern centers on a trading route that connected via Bauchi to the northern states of Katsina, Kano and Bornu.

[3] It is debatable whether the Jukun were ever the military leaders of the broader Kwararafa state, as is sometimes claimed, or whether the Aku's role was more a symbolic or ritual leadership of the different peoples of the Benue river basin.

For example, in 1780 the leader of a group of migrants from Bornu felt it necessary to apply to the Aku Uka for endorsement and recognition of his rule over their new settlement at Lafia, to the northwest.

[2] The consolidation of Wukari as an independent state may have been given impetus by pressure from the Chamba people, who were pushing westward down the Benue at that time.

[4] When the British incorporated the state into the protectorate of Nigeria around 1900, it was multi-ethnic, including Tiv and Moslem Hausa-Fulani people as well as the original Jukun.

For example, they thought that in their migration from Yemen to Kwararafa around 596 AD they were assisted by giant crocodiles, who were therefore protected, and still have a shrine in the Marmara pond at Wukari.

[8] The Kuteb people, who speak a related language and live just to the south of the Jukun, have a tradition that they migrated from Egypt about a thousand years ago, but their religion is very different.

Christians disputed the construction of a mosque at the Wukari Police divisional headquarters, and started rioting a few days before a planned visit of the Moslem Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar III.

[19] The Aku Uka of Wukari and chairman of the Taraba State Traditional Council, Dr. Shakaru Angyu, had reportedly warned the Area Commander against the building of the mosque, which was destroyed during the disturbances.

[21] The competition takes place at the Nwonyo lake, said to have been discovered in 1816 by the founder of Ibi, Buba Wurbo, and the first public festival was held during the reign of Abgumanu II (1903–1915).