Investigative Report On Rabih’s Fort, Dikwa: A Cultural Heritage Faced With The Impact Of Climate Change.
By Ibrahim Umar
Kanempress
18th May 2023
Rabih’s Fort is located in Dikwa Local Government Area (LGA) of Borno State, in the North-Eastern Nigeria, its geographic situation along the road that leads to the borders of Niger Republic, Chad and Cameroon Republics makes it a surrogate for international trading as well as offers an inferential benefit for commercial activities.
Rabih’s Fort, Dikwa was declared as National Monument on the 23rd April, 1959. Note that, Rabih’s Fort, Dikwa is unique in its own settings, due to its architecture; the building plan and the builders were said to have been imported from Sudan Republic, allied to Nigeria but with so much similarity as Hausa Traditional Architecture.
Rabih’s Fort is one of the thirty (30) Earthen Structures out of sixty-five (65) Declared National Monuments in Nigeria. The Fort was recognized as one of the National Monuments due to its intrinsic values and Outstanding Significance beyond the community and States where it was located. But, by nature of its constituents as well as geographic location in the North Eastern Region of Nigeria, Rabih’s Fort falls victim climate change as a result of insurgence when Dikwa town was captured by the Boko Haram armed group on 6/9/2014, an incident that has sent the whole community on exile.
The Fort was built by Rabih az Zubair ibn Fadr Allah, a military General from Sudan who migrated South with his band of soldiers in search of new territories to conquer. After the sacking of Kukawa, (the former seat of the El-Kanemi Dynasty) Rabih begin the construction of the Fort in 1893 and finished it in 1900.
All construction on the Site (except the German Colonial Residence GCR) was done with strips of burnt mud brick called jalap in Kanuri, prepared from mixed mud with hay, straws, rice husks and other traditional building ingredients. Azara wood was used for the lintels, structural frame for the arches, roofs, domes and corbels. Plastering was done on the walls of the structures as water-proof with mud mixture (Makuba) occasionally with decorating patterns.
The architectural style is prominently Islamic Mud architecture from Sudan with traces of Kanuri earthen architecture. It bears a lot of similarity in style and technique to Hausa Traditional Earthen Architecture especially from Kano and Zaria. Oral tradition has it that Rabih imported the style and the builders from Sudan.
- The photographs below depict the RFD; Unperturbed Cultural Heritage before the Boko Haram Insurgence
The Rabih’s Main Palace.
The Rabih’s Main Palace is a single storey building with two great halls in the ground floor. Rabih held court in the first while the second adjacent hall was used by his Islamic scholars (Ulamas) for reciting the Holy Quran. Attached, is the original photographs of the Fort before the Boko Haram insurgency.
German Colonial Building.
The GCR is a triangular building, constructed with burnt bricks and adhered by limestone cement plaster. It was built in the classic colonial style of the era with deep colonnaded verandahs.
The Armory
The Armory is a single room serving the dual purpose of a traditional reception area and an armory (store) where weapons and ammunition are kept.
As stated in the earlier discussion, Rabih’s Fort, Dikwa is currently faced with a Mix-Climatic change and the Boko Haram Insurgence.
