Panshanu is a quiet, historic village situated in Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi state. Recently, Governor Isa Yuguda spoke to Journalists about a rare rock believed to possess? mysterious powers. NAJIB SANI visited the village to find out if the mystery about the rocks.
The village is historic, having existed over 200 years ago since Bauchi emirate was established by the first Emir, Malam Yakubu, alias ‘YakubunBauchi’. What however aroused LEADERSHIP Sunday’s interest in the village lies not in the fact that it is an ancient village, but that the community is home to a wondrous rock called ‘DutsenKwandon Kaya’ where an ethnic group had lived before the advent of Yakubun Bauchi emirate in the state.
What makes the ‘Dutsen Kwandon Kaya different is not the people that lived on it, but the stones heaped near the rock which the residents of the village claimed that no one, either a resident or stranger can pick any of it away and even if anyone does that, the person would not have peace until the stone is returned to the place. The question here is, has anybody ever picked the stones and why can’t they be carried away?
The village head of Panshanu, Malam BalaAbdullahi answered the question while speaking to LEADERSHIP Sunday. He uncovered that a long time ago, there lived an ethnic group called Gusawa who had their huts on the? rock, adding that they were the ones who gathered the stones and charmed them while vacating the area.
“According to history, when the first Bauchi Emir, Malam Yakubu came here, he asked the Gusawa tribesmen to accept Islam but they refused to do so because they believed fervently in their traditional religion and magic.” He said.
Abdullahi added that when Malam Yakubu realized that the traditional worshippers would not convert to Islam, he pursued them from the place because it was under his territory and he was one of the disciples of the great Islamic jihadist, Sheikh Dan Fodio.
“While fleeing, the ‘Gusawas’ vowed that since they were forced to leave the rock, nobody else could ever use the rock. Each one of them therefore picked a stone, dumped it near the rock that formed the heap and charmed them such that nobody could carry the stones away.” It is said that, even if one took a stone from there, he must return it to the place no matter where he carries it to, because the stones have magical powers that would disturb the person and compel him to bring them back to the rock.”
The brother to the village head explained that no one within the community had ever picked the stones from the rock out of fear, saying their grandparents told them that outsiders who dared to carry the magical stones had returned them and regretted their action due to the experience they had as a result of that.
Malam Bala Abdullahi revealed that since the founder of the Bauchi Emirate chased the Gusawa people from the area, they were said to have migrated to ‘Sabon Kaura’ in Plateau State and none of their kinsmen could be found any more in the whole Panshanu village. He noted that the residents of the village now comprise the Tilawa, Jarawa and Fulani tribes.
“But if you go to the rock now, you will still see the broken mud pots and grinding stones used by the Gusawa people in the olden days. What surprised me most about the DutsenKwandon Kaya is the number of people that lived there because it is said that each of them had deposited one stone on the heap.? And if you look at the quantity of the stones, you will know that the people are quite many”. He pointed out.
He said people from various destinations visit the village to see the historical stones but however lamented how government had neglected the place which could have been an international tourist attraction.
The brother to the village head therefore called on the state government to revamp the place, employ guards, workers and write historical documents on it so that people will be aware that such a place exists and pay visits to the place just like they did to the Yankari Game Reserve, saying that if that is done, it will also become a source of revenue to the state and provide employment to several persons.
According to him, Toro Local Government that hosts the village and the stones is endowed with many other natural resources which, if harnessed, would provide a lot of wealth to the country.
LEADERSHIP Sunday also gathered that although the rock is located on the road side, the place is currently open, unfenced and unknown to many people even in the state due to lack of publicity and infrastructures to make it attractive.
When contacted, the state Commissioner of Tourism and Culture, Alhaji Salihu Ibrahim Jama’are confirmed the presence of such mysterious stones in the village and said that they had been there for quite a long time.
He assured that plans were underway by the government to revamp the place and build structures around it with a view to making it lively and attractive to tourists.
Jama’are also promised that all other historical sites in the state will soon be rehabilitated and advertised in both the print and electronic media, just as he said that his ministry was currently planning to publish calendars on the numerous cultural activities and tourism potentials endowed in the state.
“We have instructed all local government councils in the state to submit the names of their tourist attraction centres, cultural activities and dates of the events because we are going for advertisement in the media,” he said. ??