Bassa province: As said earlier, the fierce war of defeats and counter-defeats between the leader of the Bassa Kingdom of Ikerekwu and Makama Dogo forced some Bassa to cross the River Benue. Baikie (1856) writes that: “It was clearly the activities of the Fulani of keffi, Nassaawa, and even Bida that stimulated movement from the vicinity of Umaisha into Northern Igala land over the Benue in the early eighteen fifties. They settled about 2km south of the River Benue bank and about 40km Northern-east of Lokoja at a place they call Aguma fauted by the colonialists as Oguma (meaning the village of mats) This settlement was said to be very possible by the singular permission of the Ata of Igala by name Omaga, whose kingdom headquarters was, and still is, at Idah. With the increasing number of Bassa settlements in the area, the Ata became embarrassed to the extent of declaring a war against the Bassa to return to their homeland in Plateau. This was met with stiff resistance that ended in six month war, leaving the Bassa triumphant. They thus permanently occupy the banks of the benue from Mozum to Amageddi….(11). As a result of the above, the Bassa factor and influence became welding and pronounced in the area and at the arrival of the colonial administration in 1900, Bassa Province came to into being in 1902” (12) According to Captain F. Byng-Hall (1965), Bassa province covered an area of 6,485 square miles. It was bounded on the North and West by the River Benue and Niger respectively. On the south by the Southern Nigeria and Muri Province on the east. (13) This Province was occupied by the British in 1901/2, who distorted the peaceful affairs of the province by placing it under the authority of Foreign District Heads. The Bassa Province “went into oblivion at the same time with the then Nasarawa province in Plateau” (14) this was, maybe, due to the fact that the district heads were the most important chiefs, there was no principal chief in the province. Bassa Province, made up of many ethnic groups, was merged with Nasarawa province, and re-separated in 1915 for communication link problems. Please share this page on your social median