In a gathering that blended ancestral pride with forward-looking resolve, the Margi people of northeastern Nigeria launched their inaugural “Margi Day” on Saturday, November 22, 2025, at Mahmud Ribadu Square in Jimeta, Yola. The event, a pioneering cultural unity program and civic reception honoring Adamawa State Governor Rt. Hon. (Dr.) Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, CON, GSSRS, drew an extraordinary assembly of national figures, including the governors of Oyo, Taraba, and Bauchi states; the deputy governors of Adamawa and Borno; former governors; distinguished royal highnesses; parliamentarians; the Chief Judge of Adamawa and other jurists; politicians from across party lines; prominent businessmen; and community leaders. Amid the unveiling of the official Margi National Attire, the highlight was a deeply personal keynote address by Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, OFR, MFR, SAN a legal luminary whose life exemplifies the unyielding Margi spirit.
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Chief Gadzama, born in Mubi, Adamawa State, and a native of Lassa in Borno State, opened with a poignant invocation of Chinua Achebe’s proverb: “A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.” Framing the event as a “3-in-1” milestone – the institutionalization of an annual Margi Day, the attire’s debut, and a tribute to Governor Fintiri’s leadership – he declared it a “covenant with the past and blueprint for the future.” “We are here to definitively name where the rain began to beat us… so that together, we can decide – with purpose and with power – exactly where we will dry our bodies and build our future,” Gadzama said, his voice resonating across the square packed with illustrious sons and daughters of the Margi nation, from southern Borno and northern Adamawa to diaspora communities in Kogi, Gombe, and beyond.
The keynote, titled “The Margi Renaissance: Reclaiming Our Heritage and Renewing Our Future in the African Spirit,” wove a tapestry of history, challenges, and aspirations. Gadzama traced the Margi origins to Yemen, part of a confederation of tribes like the Bura, Kibaku, Kilba, and Mandara, who migrated through East Africa amid wars, Sahara desiccation, and empires like Mai Idris Alooma’s. Settling in the Mandara Mountains and Yedzaran Plains, they formed the Hill Margi (Dzungu of Gulak, Madagali, Michika) and Plain Margi (Babal of Askira/Uba, Damboa, Chibok), forging a decentralized, communal society under Ptil leaders and elder councils – a participatory democracy predating modern terms.
Emphasizing resilience, Gadzama highlighted defenses against Fulani jihads led by Modibbo Adama, Kanem Empire raids, and Hamman Yaji’s tyranny, backed by German forces in Cameroon. The Margi symbol, the “Shield and Spear,” embodies this duality: agrarian guardians ever ready to protect land, family, and dignity. Pre-colonial spirituality revered a supreme being – Iju, Tambi, Hyel – manifesting in sacred trees, rivers, and crossroads, with oath systems like Sam Shafa ensuring moral order against witches and wizards.
Yet, Gadzama issued a stark warning on the “silent emergency” of the Margi language, a tonal Central Chadic tongue with complex consonants (dl, dz, gv, ghv, thl). Lacking standardized orthography since Christoph Hoffman’s 1963 grammar, it faces catastrophe: no primers or textbooks for children, no digital archives or apps, and urban parents too ashamed or busy to teach it. Confessing personal vulnerability, Gadzama revealed, “Interestingly, I have been a victim of having not been taught my native language as well… Today, it is my sincerest hope that my children do not share this same narrative someday too.” He decried political costs, like Askira/Uba’s population undercount (from 250,000 in 1991 to 143,313 in 2006) and stalled local government creation despite qualifications, urging a national project to fund linguists, publish books, and develop curricula. He saluted scholars like Mallam Thlawur Jabdi, Dr. Esther Mangzha, and Abdulkadir Gadzama as “freedom fighters against collective amnesia.”
Turning to cultural evolution, Gadzama celebrated the Margi woman’s industriousness – rising at 3:30 a.m. for farm work, storytelling, and crafts – while critiquing patriarchal barriers like denied inheritance, levirate marriage, child betrothals (Mala Zhizhu from age six), and forced unions (Mala Mba Du Dunama). Influenced by Christianity, Islam, education, and human rights, these have largely faded, preserving consensual rites like Mba and Lu Mala. “To be true to our traditions is not to fossilize them… Our cultural evolution is a sign of strength,” he affirmed, calling for scrutiny to ensure justice and dignity.
Outlining “pillars of our future,” Gadzama positioned Margi Day as a strategic launch for unity: a socio-political megaphone projecting coherent identity; the new attire as a “walking statement” of colors, patterns, and pride; a knowledge hub for elders to demonstrate crafts like Pizhi weaving and Nchala Sim design, alongside linguistic advancements; sustained co-existence via rotational hosting from Adamawa and Borno to diaspora hubs like Abuja, Lagos, and Houston (“Margi without Borders, Margi Kra Kël”); and activation of innate leadership, from warriors like Ptil Wanpana to modern icons like Professors Peter N. Lassa and Ngidda N. Gadzama, UN’s Mariam Ladi Yunusa, and Governor Fintiri.
In a poetic interlude on names as “stories, philosophies, prayers,” Gadzama listed gems like Usiju (Thank God), Hyelahiryu (God loves me), Dunama (Very Strong), Kumar (Patience), and Lapiya (It is well), seeing in his sons Madu (First male child) and Lamar (Borrowed name) a “sacred trust” from the future. “We have borrowed these children… to return them equipped, proud, and united.”
The address culminated in an emotional conclusion, challenging Governor Fintiri – a University of Maiduguri history graduate and Gadzama’s alumni colleague – to author the “definitive history of the Margi people.” Praising Fintiri’s reforms in health, infrastructure, education, and unity, Gadzama highlighted former Governor Bala James Ngilari’s public endorsements as a model of grace. He called for covenants: rescuing the language, evolving traditions for equity, mentoring youth, propagating Margi Day and attire, and fostering harmony with other tribes.
The event ended with a unified chant: “Long live the great Margi Nation! Long live Adamawa and Borno… Long live Nigeria!” As conferees dispersed in the new attire, Gadzama’s words lingered – a clarion call for a people reclaiming their epic, from Yemen’s sands to Mandara’s peaks, ensuring their flame endures.
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