The Bwatiye people which are mostly refer to as Bachama are a set of people that can be found in Numan,

Demsa Demsa is a Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria with headquarters located in Demsa. Demsa lies on the Benue River. History Demsa Local Government Area is one of the twenty one LGAs in Adamawa State and has the postal code of 642. ...

and

Lamurde Lamurde is a town and Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Nigeria inhabited predominantly by the Bwatiye (Bachama) people. History The Lamurde Local Government was established on December 14, 1996, from the local government of Numan. Numer ...

Local Governments in the Southern part of

Adamawa State Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...

and in some part of the

Cameroons British Cameroon or the British Cameroons was a British Empire, British League of Nations mandate, mandate territory in British West Africa, formed of the Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Today, the Northern Cameroons forms parts of th ...

Republic.

History

The Bwatiye people origin can be traced back to the

Gobir Gobir (Demonym: ''Gobirawa'') was a city-state in what is now Nigeria. Founded by the Hausa in the 11th century, Gobir was one of the seven original kingdoms of Hausaland, and continued under Hausa rule for nearly 700 years. Its capital was the ci ...

people. According to history, Gobir people who occupied

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesTuaregs The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Al ...

who came from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and were forced to move down to south which is now called the northeastern

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Also, persistence war from Bornu people forced them to their present location,

Language

Bwatiye people speak Bachama language.

Festivals

Bachama Kwete annual cultural festival

It is a seven days spiritual-cultural festival that is done to honour their vegetarian god (Homonpwa ka Puledan) for the bounty of agricultural produces.

Njuwa Fishing Festival of Bwatiye people

It is a two days fishing festival that attracts many fishermen around the country to display their fishing skills. It has no specific date but it mostly come up in the month of April.

Vunon Festival

It is popularly known as Farai-Farai. It is a four-days festival that tends to unite

, Mbula, Numan and Lamurde in worshipping their common deities and to also declare farming activities open. It is one of the biggest festival of the Bwatiye people that involved singing, dancing and displaying of numerous ornaments.

Traditional Governance

The Bwatiye people used monarchy system of government and the title given to their ruler is Hama Bachama. The current Hama Bachama is DanieI Shaga Ismaila.

References

{{Reflist Adamawa State Ethnic groups in Nigeria Ethnic groups in Adamawa State