Birnin Kebbi

Birnin Kebbi is a city located in Northwestern Nigeria It is the capital city of Kebbi State and headquarters of the Gwandu Emirate. As at 2007 the city had an estimated population of 125,594 people. Kebbi is mostly a Hausa and Fulani state, with Islam as the major religion. Formerly it was the capital of the Kebbi Emirate, which relocated to Argungu after the conquest by Gwandu in 1831. The town remained the capital of Kebbi until 1805, when it was burned in the Fulani jihad (“holy war”) by Abdullahi dan Fodio, a brother of the jihad leader and later Emir of Gwandu. After Birnin Kebbi was incorporated into the Fulani Emirate of Gwandu, it was eclipsed in political importance by Gwandu (Gando) town, 30 miles (48 km) east, and as a caravan and riverside market centre by Jega, 20 miles (32 km) southeast, which lay at the head of navigation on the Zamfara River, a tributary of the Sokoto. Ironically, while Argungu (48 km or 30 miles northeast) became the traditional seat of the king of Kebbi in 1827, Birnin Kebbi served as the Gwandu emirate headquarters after Emir Haliru was inaugurated there in 1906. Birnin Kebbi became the capital of the newly created Nigerian state of Kebbi in 1991.

Although Birnin Kebbi has declined as a river port because of silting as well as political conditions, it now serves as a collecting point for peanuts (groundnuts) and rice and as a major local market centre in millet, sorghum, rice, fish, goats, and cattle. It is the site of a state polytechnic college and a government rice-research station. Its Hausa and Fulani inhabitants are Muslims. Pop. (2016 est.) local government area, 366,200.