SHEHU AHMADU LOBBO

born 1775 died 1844 Shehu also spelled Seku, or Cheikou, Lobbo also spelled Lobo, also called Hamad Bari, or Ahmadu Hammadi Bubu, Arabic name Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abu Bakr Ibn Sa'id Fulani Muslim leader in western Africa who established a theocratic state in the Macina region of what is now Mali. Influenced by the teachings of the Islamic reformer Usman dan Fodio, he began a holy war (jihad) in 1818 or possibly as early as 1810. He defeated the forces of the pagan Fulani and Bambara chiefs and established a capital at Hamdallahi. His rule extended to the cities of Timbuktu and Djnn, where he had the great mosque destroyed because it offended his fundamentalist Islamic views. The rule of his family continued under his successors, Ahmadu II and Ahmadu III, until the latter was defeated by al-Hajj 'Umar in 1862.