Gumel

Gumel is located 120 km northeast of Kano, and lies about 20 km south of Nigeria's northern border with Niger. As of 2007 the estimated population of Gumel was 44,158.[1]

The emirate was founded about 1750 by Dan Juma of Kano and his followers from the Mangawa tribe. Shortly after his death in 1754, it became a tributary state of the Bornu kingdom. The emirate survived the Fulani attacks of Usman dan Fodio's jihad in the early 19th century and never became part of the Fulani empire of Sokoto. The present-day location of Gumel is the result of an 1845 move from the city of Tumbi, located in what is now Niger. The emirate has frequently been at war with the nearby cities of Hadejia, Danzomo, Kano, and Zinder since 1828. The war with Hadejia continued until the death of Gumel's emir, Abdullahi, in 1872. Before Emir Ahmadu accepted British rule in 1903, frequent slave raids from the town of Zinder were common. In 1976 Gumel became part of Kano State, and since 1991 it has been part of Jigawa State near Danzomo, Gagarawa, Sule Tankarkar, and Maigatari.[2]

The current emir of Gumel, HRH Alh. Ahmed Mohammed Sani II (CON) is the 16th emir of Gumel. The emir is a graduate, in political science, of Ohio State University in the United States. He has a younger brother, Abdullahi Muhammad Sani II, who is a graduate of Michigan State University in the United States, with a major in electrical engineering. The emir has been in office since 1981. The emir's palace is accessible only to those invited there by the emir, to members of the royal family, and to officials of the royal court (the emirate council, also called the Majlis).

Gumel acts as the region's primary economic center. Sorghum, millet, and peanuts are collected here and trucked to Kano on a secondary highway where they are exported by rail.[2]