Ikara: History
Ikara local government was created out of former Zaria Native Authority following the local government reforms of 1976 at the time of creation. It comprised Ikara, Kubua and Makarfi Districts.
The evolution of human settlement in Ikara was greatly influence by environmental, economic and social considerations. The evolution dates back as far as 1808 when the Jukun people inhabited the town of Ikara. They were immigrants who fled attack of the Muslims scholars from Kano for their refusal to accept Islam. They settled under the Ikara Mountain (Dutse Lungu) for a brief period of time they later came settle in a plain area near the mountain. The Jukun people were believed to be the founders of Ikara town and name it "Ikara" which means "lets hide here" or "a hiding place" in the Jukun language.
The Maguzawa are people who were originally pagans or who may converted to christianity later in the 20century. The maguzawa were originally Hausa speaking people mostly found in area around katsina, kano and northern zaria.
They were termed “maguzawa” by the Hausa people and Fulani muslim after the jihad because they did not accept the islam religion but retain to tradition pagan worship. However most of these people so-called maguzawa have been converted to Christians and such cannot be termed maguzawa in real islamic sense of word; in spite of this, the name persisted
The fulani were said to have come and settle in the area mainly for ecological reasons. The Fulani who were mainly Bororuji(wanderers) came to ikara because the town was suitable for cattle grazing and probably sought to escaped the payment of jangali(tax) to the rulers of their various area, with large family unit. However, according to oral tradition, in spite of all these settlements, ikara could not be regarded as town as there were was no definite ruler over the town until 1879, when magaji Abubakar, a man who hailed from kura, a town in kano state . He organised the settlements into a town and he became the first villarge head in 1897. He was turbaned by shehu kwasau, sarkin zazzau (Emir of zazzau) as the village head with title “Dagachin ikara ”