Kwara
Where a Yoruba general's rebellion created the Sokoto Caliphate's southernmost emirate, now balancing Yoruba-Fulani-Nupe heritage as a harmony state.
Kwara State exists because a Yoruba general invited the Fulani in and lost control. Afonja, the generalissimo (Are-Ona-Kakanfo) of the Oyo army, rebelled against the Alaafin in 1817 from his military outpost at Ilorin. He allied with Mallam Alimi, a Fulani from Sokoto, and Fulani warriors and Hausa slaves. After Afonja's assassination, Alimi's son Abd al-Salam became Emir of Ilorin and pledged allegiance to the Sokoto Caliphate around 1829. This transformation made Ilorin the southernmost emirate - a Yoruba city under Fulani-Islamic rule. The Royal Niger Company defeated the emirs of Nupe and Ilorin in 1897, and British incorporation followed. Created in 1967, Kwara occupies the transition zone between Nigeria's north and south. Agriculture dominates - cotton, cocoa, coffee, kola nut, tobacco, sugarcane - with the Bacita Sugar Company representing industrial processing. Shonga Farms hosts 13 commercial farmers in a back-to-farm initiative. Jebba's pulp and paper mill and sugar refinery anchor manufacturing. The state's slogan "State of Harmony" acknowledges that its Yoruba-Fulani-Nupe mix requires constant balancing. By 2026, agricultural processing and the petrochemical potential of recently discovered petroleum will define economic direction.