page_title: Bussa rebellion
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Bussa rebellion / Background
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Guerrier bariba de Boussa
context_page_description: The Bussa rebellion, also known as the Boussa rebellion, was a small insurrection in the town of Bussa against the policy of indirect rule in British-controlled Nigeria in June 1915. The rebellion was triggered by British deposition of the local Emir of Bussa, Kitoro Gani, and his replacement with a Native Administration. The rebels attacked and killed around half of the members of the Administration, while the rest fled, leaving the rebels in control in Bussa. Despite the ongoing Kamerun Campaign against the German Empire, the British were able to use a small force of soldiers which quickly suppressed the rebellion incurring no casualties. The Bussa Rebellion was the subject of a major work by British historian Michael Crowder.
context_section_description: Bussa was located in Borgu province in the west of Northern Nigeria. Traditionally, Bussa had been part of the Borgu Emirate but had been captured by the British and annexed into the Northern Nigeria Protectorate. Between 1912 and 1914, under the auspices of Frederick Lugard, Northern and Southern Nigeria were merged into a single Nigerian Protectorate. Lugard was a chief proponent of allowing limited self-determination to local states, known as indirect rule, based on traditional tribal groups but within the aegis of general British control.
  Lugard argued that, where possible, pre-colonial aristocrats or kings should be retained as indirect rulers in British service in order to give greater legitimacy to the system. The hereditary Emir of Bussa, Kitoro Gani was judged to be a weak ruler who did not have enough influence to collect taxes or fill quotas of labourers to work on building railways. In 1912, therefore, the Resident at Yelwa, A. C. Boyd, forced a major administrative reform on the Borgu Emirate which was divided up into administrative areas, each ruled by a "Beit-el-mal" or Native Administration. In Bussa, the Administration was put under the control of Turaki, a former royal advisor. Taxes were also raised.
caption: A Bussa warrior, photographed in around 1900
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