e - CIFAS

++ GOVERNMENT IN ZAZZAU
mallam's order formed a self-contained promotional series. Apart
from the order of mallams, there were only two other orders
entirely staffed by persons of the same status condition. These
were the order of chamber o.fficials and the order of slave-ofUcials.
Both these orders of chamber offici.als and titled slaves were of
instrwnental rather than political significance for the system of
government.
Another point mentioned in the preceding summary which
requires further discussion concerns the functional groupings of
office of various orders of rank, taken separately or together. The
Madawaki (or Madaki as he is called in Fulani Zazzau, both fonns
being abbreviationi'l of Mai-dawaki, the 'owner of the horses', that
is, commander of cavalry) acted as commander-in-chief, receiving
half the booty of war or slave-raids for distribution to the public
officials. All free title-holders of Madawaki's group, namely, the
Kuyambana, Garkuwa Babba, Makama Babba, Lifidi, and
Shenagu, had military duties, and were prominently concerned
with the direction of war. But the Madawaki also had two subordinate
slave ,.atouna, the Wagu and the Sata. Wagu was the title
of the royal sexton, and his position directly under the Madawaki
is explained by the latter's role as head of the electoral council, as
well as his duty as commander-in-chief, responsible for the care of
the royal mausoleum. The other slave subordinate of the Madawaki,
the Sata, had the function of supervising the order of slaveofficials,
a duty which was shared by Hauni, who acted on behalf
ofthe household officials under Sarkin Fada, Madawaki's principal
opponent in council. Duplication of this supervision of slaveofficials,
and the division ofthese duties between the Madawaki and
the Sarkin Fada, was clearly.a protective political device. It simultaneously
ensured that the order of official slaves would be closely
controlled and also that neither the public nor the household
officials would be able to subvert these titled slaves, or bring them
into the arena of political competition. This division of supervisory
functions which neutralized the slave order politically
thereby defined it as a purely administrative staff.
The Galadima's duties in the field of civil administration contrast
directly with those of the Madawaki, and this contrast was
further underlined by their differences in social status, the Madawaki
being a freeman, the Galadima a eunuch. The principal
subordinates of Galadima controlled markets, the supply of meat,
GOVERNMENT IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY ABUJA 4S
exercised jurisdiction over unmarried mothers, and officiated at
royal weddings. The Galadima himself was in charge of the state
police, and his compound served as the place for punishment of
offenders. In the war camp, the Galadima's deputy was the Dallatu,
another eunuch of rukuni rank, who acted as head of the anny's
civil administration, while the Barwa, a slave-official of ,.awuna
rank, subordinate to the Galadima, was in charge of the royal
encampment itself. The Galadima did not proceed with the army
on its campaigns, but remained inAbujatown, as the king's deputy,
and was head of the civil administration during wartime. The
capital was divided between the Galadima and the Madawaki for
administration, each ruling one-half as a fief. This served to
neutralize it politically, just as division of control over the slaveofficials
neutralized that order politically. Division of the capital
between Galadima and Madawaki denied either the chance to seize
power by (;OUP without the other's consent; and as the Galadima
was a eunuch, already enjoying a high authority but unable to
perpetuate peri'lonal power, this meant in effect that the Galadima
could be relied on to side with the king against the Madawaki's
personal ambitions. In so far as the Madawaki's aims were less
personal, but reflected matters ofgeneral policy, then the Galadima
was free to support him in council, in association with or in opposition
to the Sarkin Fada. An instance which is discussed later
illustrates neatly how valuable was this administrative division of
the capital at Abuja between the civil and military chiefs. This is
the story of a non-eunuch Galadima of Fulani Zaria who enjoyed
undivided administrative control of the capital at a period when
the king and the Madaki were mutually opposed, and who was
tempted by these circumstances to rehellion.
Four of the Abuja rank-orders contain functional divisions of
offices in terms oftheir special military or civil interests and duties.
Within each of these rank-orders, the relations between these
functionally differentiated official groups have a similar structure,
and this pattern is also duplicated for the system of rank-orders as
a whole. Each of these functionally differentiated segments has an
internal hierarchy ofits own, these hierarchies expressing authority
relations among their component offices; and each of these
functional hierarchies is in contraposition with the other as administrative,
political, and promotional units. In a state known
historically to have been almost continuously engaged in military