The Pabir of Biu (Viu): People Lost in Ethnic and Cultural Mist

By: Joseph SHALANGWA

I have been an ardent follower and reader of works published by NEWSng for quite some time, where some works on Bura-Pabir were published, but one interesting piece that came to the fore was “The Lingering Bura-Pabir Question (1&2),” published in 2024, which is somehow related to this article.

Therefore, this work is not to mock or disregard the Pabir as people who are ghastly lost in the mist of ethnic and cultural identity. The work is a historical enlightenment to the people of Nigeria who have routed the Bura and the Pabir as the same people, but historically no, and never are they the same. For political reasons, yes. Just like the Hausa-Fulani coinage.

I want readers to know from this day forward that there is no tribe or ethnic group independently called Babur. We have the Pabir, who are unable to stand as a tribe with distinct culture and traditions.

I am not a historian by any standard, but history and its source materials are of interest to me. I had listened to historical conversations and stories pertaining to my people—the Bura—ever since I was a boy. This has given me some knowledge and understanding of my people’s history, culture, traditions, and civilizations.

As certified technologists, one of our ways of diagnosing troubleshooting is to unscrew and screw in an attempt to mechanically solve the ailment. This is what I am briefly going to do in this work.

I have read so many works on the history of Biu people.

However, some of the writings did not dwell much on the original inhabitants of the Biu Plateau, the Bura, but rather hid in historical conspiracy theory portraying the Pabir as the true inhabitants of the Biu territory. It is not true but misleading and questionable because they left out the Aborigines, the Bura people, who are a tribe and an ethnic nation with history and cultural identity.

At this juncture, questions that will readily come to mind are: Who are the Pabir people? What are their clan names? There has been an identity crisis about the Pabir, who are today known as Babur, lost totally in ethnic and cultural fog.

My findings did not give me any historical validity that the Pabir are the original inhabitants of Biu (Viu) territory; rather, it said that a band of seventy (70) men from the Kanem empire came some hundreds of years ago. “The Bura people are the native inhabitants of the Biu Plateau with unique culture and traditions, clear clan names rooted in their history and civilizations…Musical instruments, dances, foods…” Long before the leader of the 70 men, Yamtra Wala, came onto the scene, he was called and addressed wrongly as YAMTA OLA in the Bura dialect.

Clan names like Bwayama, Dlakwa, Wudiri, Mibwala, Mhya, and Garnva, among many others, are of Bura people. This further drew the ancestral and cultural identity between the Bura and Pabir people. Funny enough, theirs are Mshelganga, Gurdum, Mazalapuwa, Kiribara, Mshelgwagwa, etc. While in the history of the Bura, there are no such clan names. In fact, these names are derived from the Bura local dialect, signifying some of their works and duties in the king’s palace. You may wish to agree with me that Pabir are a group of people who have nosedived and lost their cultural identity.

It baffles me when I see a Pabir man calling himself or herself Babur. Thus, it has further deepened their loss, which has created a historical inferiority complex in them.

This work should serve as a call to all the Babur (Pabir) to come to reality, to break the complexities of their origin, and to accept who they are historically, and to take responsibility as Pabir people, not Babur.

I am also calling on all Bura sons and daughters to continue to stand firm and proudly call and be addressed as Bura worldwide.

Joseph Shalangwa
Writes from Kaduna.

The Pabir of Biu (Viu): People Lost in Ethnic and Cultural Mist