Political Reorganization of Kajju under British Colonial Rule, 1903–1960

This article interrogates the transformation of Kajju’s indigenous political system under British colonial rule between 1903 and 1960, with particular attention to the restructuring of authority among the Bajju people of present-day Southern Kaduna. Prior to colonial intrusion, Kajju society operated a decentralized but internally coherent political order centered on the Gado institution—a composite system in which political leadership, religious mediation, land administration, and judicial arbitration were fused. Authority was exercised through consensus, ritual legitimacy, and lineagebased accountability, enabling social cohesion without centralized coercion. British military conquest in the early twentieth century, completed after prolonged resistance in the Kagoro–Kajju axis by 1917, marked a decisive rupture in this indigenous order.Under the colonial policy of indirect rule, Kajju was administratively subordinated to the emirates of Zazzau and later Jema’a, despite its distinct historical, cultural, and political identity. The imposition of emirate-appointed district heads, taxation systems, and native courts systematically displaced the Gado institution and relegated indigenous authorities to subordinate or symbolic roles. Drawing on colonial intelligence reports, district assessment files, and Bajju oral traditions, this study argues that the abolition of the Gado system was not dictated by administrative necessity or political dysfunction but by British preference for governing through centralized Muslim emirates considered more “legible” and compliant to colonial control. This administrative convenience entrenched political inequality, facilitated cultural domination, and reinforced religious hierarchies that marginalized non-Muslim communities in Southern Kaduna. The article further demonstrates that colonial political reorganization provoked sustained resistance among the Bajju, manifested in tax evasion, court boycotts, ritual defiance, and later ethnic mobilization for recognition and autonomy. These struggles intensified in the late colonial period, contributing to the emergence of minority political consciousness, demands for chiefdom restoration, and participation in regional movements advocating self-rule. By situating Kajju’s experience within the broader colonial strategy toward non-Muslim societies in Northern Nigeria, the study reveals how indirect rule functioned as an instrument of domination rather than accommodation. Ultimately, the Kajju case underscores the resilience of indigenous political institutions and highlights the long-term consequences of colonial governance for minority politics, identity formation, and postcolonial state legitimacy in Nigeria.