Suleja: History
The emirate's wooded savanna area of about 2,980 square kilometres (1,150 sq mi) originally included four small Koro chiefdoms that paid tribute to the Hausa kingdom of Zazzau. After warriors of the Fulani jihad (struggle/War) captured Zaria (Zazzau's capital, 220 km (140 mi) north-northeast) about 1804, Muhamman Makau, sarkin ("king of") Zazzau, led many of the Hausa nobility to the Koro town of Zuba (10 km or 6 mi south). Abu Ja (Jatau), his brother and successor as sarkin Zazzau, founded Abuja town in 1828, began construction of its wall a year later, and proclaimed himself the first Sarkin Abuja.
Withstanding Zaria attacks, the Abuja emirate remained an independent Hausa refuge. Trade with the Fulani emirates of Bida (to the west) and Zaria began in Emir Abu Kwaka's reign (1851–1877), but, when Abuja's leaders disrupted the trade route between Lokoja (160 km or 99 mi south-southeast) and Zaria in 1902, the British occupied the town. Alluvial tin mining began in Emir Musa Angulu's reign (1917–1944).
In 2011, Suleja was hit by several bomb assaults. Ten people were killed on March 3. On April 7, another bomb killed 25 people.
On January 18, 2025, a fuel tanker carrying roughly 60,000 litres of petrol overturned at the Dikko junction near Suleja, where after crashing local residents gathered to collect spilled fuel. The fuel promptly caused an explosion which killed over 100 people and injured another 69, including at least 52 critically.