•Old Jukun culture of accompanying a late king in transition resurfaces 50 years after

By Femi Bolaji, Jalingo

The ancient town of Wukari, in the southern part of Taraba state, occupied predominantly by the Jukun tribe is the cradle of the Kwararafa Kingdom with its ancient customs and traditions that have remained sacred to the aborigines since 1596.

For Kwararafa descendants born after 1976, all they must have known about the transition ceremony of their paramount and spiritual leader known as the Aku-Uka must have been tales from those older than them.

But for the few lucky ones who were still resident within Taraba and other adjoining states, the stories they must have heard in their formative years about ‘Pankya’ (Transition Ceremony) of previous ‘Aku-Uka’ (Kings) was what they experienced firsthand last month.

For nearly 50 years, Dr Shekarau Angyu Masa Ibi Kuvyo II, had occupied the exalted throne of the Aku-Uka and had remained the unifying factor of the entire descendants of Kwararafa. He was the 24th Aku-Uka of Wukari and had 13 wives with 68 children, 111 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.

However, in October 2021, he joined his ancestors which marked the end of his reign to pave way for a new ruler that would be sent by his forebears to continue from where he stopped.

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According to the ancient Jukun tradition which persists till date, an Aku does not die. It is believed that an Aku is immortal and only transmutes to join his ancestors from the shrine of the Jukun people in Puje to a sacred place called ‘Nando’. That is why the transition ceremony is known as Pankya ya Nando (Journey to Nando).

The Horseman as Porter

One significant aspect of the Pankya is the mystery behind the horseman. This has got so many people talking and different commentaries written both on the traditional and social media. The myth behind this age long practice and the fate of the horseman was the topic on the lips of those alien to the Jukun culture. So many questions were asked on the journey of the horseman to Nando as anxiety enveloped some others on the fate of the horseman whose safe return was not guaranteed.

It was said that only the horseman would accompany the deceased paramount ruler strapped on his (horseman) back on top of the horse to the forest of Nando. There were occasions in the past when the horseman never returned after conveying the deceased ruler to Nando. Many narratives equated his journey to a suicide mission but the recent event has proved this wrong when the horseman that conveyed Dr Shekarau Angyu Masa-Ibi Kunvyo II to Nando returned to Wukari on January 17, 2022.

For a Jukun man, the responsibility of conveying the transiting Aku-Uka is seen as an honour. Some people also describe it as an act of service to the Aku who is seen as an intermediary between the terrestrial and celestial. As such, the selected horse rider performs the task with enthusiasm and a sense of responsibility not only to the Jukun people but also as an act of loyalty to the king.

It was gathered that not just anybody can become a horse rider or bearer of a transiting Aku. The horse rider according to their tradition is chosen from a designated group within the Jukun supreme temple. According to Dr Shishi Zhema, an Associate Professor of History and the Head of Department, History and Diplomatic Studies at Federal University Wukari who is also an indigene, the process of selecting the horseman is painstaking and requires ratification from the divine to ensure his safe return from Nando.

He said, “the horse rider is a member of the Jukun supreme temple and belongs to a group in the fold. The selection of the horse rider is not just an arbitrary event. It goes through a process which is done by the Chief priest until the right person is found. If the right person is not picked and sanctioned by the ancestors there is a likelihood he might get to Nando and not return. So, that is why this process of divination has to be carefully followed according to the tradition and if selected, the horse rider’s primary function is to take the Aku-Uka to Nando.

“However, from myths of the tradition, we heard that there were occasions that the person who rode with the Aku-Uka to Nando never returned. But it was discovered that the main reason the rider failed to return was because the ancestors did not sanction him. However, that has since been corrected hence the process involved to ensure that the right person sanctioned by the ancestors conveys the transiting Aku to Nando. Being sanctioned by the ancestors is as good as saying ‘go, we are protecting you and you will come back’. Ever since this process is being diligently followed, there has never been an account from the myth of the tradition that the horse rider never returned,” he said.

Also corroborating this, a Jukun elder and current Commissioner for Information in Taraba state, Mr Danjuma Adamu, affirmed that in all the Pankya that he had witnessed from childhood till the recent one held on January 14, all the horse riders returned safely.

“I have witnessed five different Pankya. The first was in 1960, followed by that of 1970 and then 1974, 1976 and the latest one of 2022. In all, the horse riders successfully returned. This is a tradition we so much cherish and as Jukuns we count it a rare privilege to be among the few ethnic groups that still cherish and preserve their tradition.

“Most of our youths and those within the age range of 45 and below are witnessing this for the first time because the last one before the recent Pankya was done in 1976. That was why the multitude came to witness the transition of the Aku-Uka.

“As for the process involved, including the pre-event and the actual event of the day, nothing has changed. It was done like the old times and that is the beauty of the revered culture of the Kwararafa descents,” he said.

The Journey to Nando

From the Aku-Uka’s Palace to major streets of Wukari, there were multitudes of people, from within and outside Taraba who came to witness the epoch-making transition of the supreme leader of the Jukun race.

A town revered as one of the largest yam markets in central Nigeria, the busy Wukari yam market was devoid of the hustle and bustle. Hoteliers had a busy time as hotel rooms were fully booked while neighbouring towns even hosted some visitors who came to witness the Pankya.

The Jukun traditional attire (Adire) was the major wear of the day. Both young and old were adorned in their colourful traditional wears who were in a long procession from the palace to Puje, the shrine of the Jukun people.

The men dressed like the old times. Their chests were bare while the traditional Adire was tied around their waists. The women on the other hand tied the attire around their chests like wrappers and trekked barefooted in the long procession to Puje.

On arrival, people were seated in clusters on clearly marked places. The were also people on the bare floor awaiting the initiates, the horse rider and the transiting Aku-Uka on a royal horse that would move from there to Nando. The appearance of the horse rider from the shrine signaled the commencement of the journey to Nando and was followed with cheers from the multitude that assembled to witness the colourful Pankya ya Nando.