REVEREND A.W. BANFIELD THE WHITE NUPE MAN It may be safe to say that Reverend A.W. Banfield is the greatest of all the pioneering Christian missionaries who had the greatest influence on the establishment and subsequent spread of Christianity in KinNupe. Only Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther’s efforts are in fact comparable to the incredible contributions of Reverend Banfield to field of pioneering Christianity in KinNupe. Reverend Banfield’s phenomenal success and feat in the establishment and spread of Christianity in KinNupe is due mainly to his incredible determination and unimaginable patience. He was indeed a personification of hard work and dedication. Very few missionaries were able to subject themselves to the untold hardship and perseverance that Reverend Banfield subjected himself to in the course of spreading Christianity in KinNupe. Alexander W. Banfield was born in Quebec, Canada, in 1878. Nigeria In 1901 A.W. Banfield arrive Nigeria in the company of four other missionaries headed by Dr. Rowland Bingham, the founder of the Sudan Interior Mission. From Lagos, through Port Harcourt, they eventually got to Lokoja in November 1901. Lokoja was the capital city of the Colonial Government of the Northern Protectorate in those days. From Lokoja the four missionaries, without Dr. Bingham, went further into KinNupe where they settled at Patigi. Patigi was a major Nupe town with a population that was entirely Muslim in those days. So, the missionaries started their proselytising activities among the Nupe Muslims at Patigi. But it was not easy preaching Islam in Patigi town that was completely a Muslim town. This, however, did not deter the missionaries who simply re-strategized and even proceeded further into the heart of KinNupe until they got to Bida, the capital of Nupe, itself. Bida Of course the opposition to Christianity in Bida was worse than the missionaries had even imagined. But this shouldn’t be surprising considering the fact that Bida was the seat of the almighty Bida Emirate with the Dendo dynasts claiming to be the sultans or emirs of the whole of KinNupe. The hardy team of A.W. Banfield’s missionaries gradually adapted to the religiously harsh environments of Bida and did all they could in establishing and spreading Christianity in KinNupe. They were not discouraged or cowed by the religious opposition they met at Bida and, with time, they began to make some little progress in the neighbouring villages populated by the semi-Islamised pagans around Bida. But trouble struck from an angle un-reckoned by the missionaries. Tropical diseases and harsh climate suddenly began to take their toll on the missionaries. One of them, A.F. Taylor, died of some disease in Bida and had to be buried there in Bida. Incidentally Taylor was also from Toronto, the city in which Banfield grew up and had spent most of his life back in Canada. The two other missionaries apart from Banfield, that is C.H. Robinson and E. Anthony both became so ill that the entire team had to immediately leave Bida. They were rushed back to Patigi. From Patigi both Robinson and Anthony were taken back to Canada due to their unrelenting illnesses. Patigi But A.W. Banfield remained in Patigi for three solid years. He became indigenised as a citizen of Patigi and became very proficient in speaking the Nupe language. It was actually there in Patigi that Banfield discovered, to his own amazement, that he had a natural talent for learning African languages. Everybody, including Banfield himself, was surprised at the fluency with which Banfield was able to master the Nupe language that is so difficult to learn even by native Africans. Of course there was no doubt that Banfield was the first White man to proficiently master the Nupe language. After three years at Patigi, A.W. Banfield went back home to Toronto in Canada. He got married around that time and became very famous among Christian missionary and African expeditionary societies in Canada and the USA. Tsonga Such was A.W. Banfield’s fame that he was appointed by the Mennonite Brethren in Christ as the first Superintendent of their mission society that they newly established that very year 1905 in Nigeria. Back in Nigeria A.W. Banfield immediately plunged himself into extensive and comprehensive missionary work in his characteristic determined and persevering manner. This time around he went further north, beyond Patigi, into KinNupe until he established Tsonga as his base. It was his laudable efforts at Tsonga that eventually gave rise to the emergence of the glorious establishment of the United Missionary Society or the UMS. The UMS, of course, became a most effective tool for the spread of Christianity in the rest of Nigeria – all thanks to the hardwork and foresight of the indefatigable and visionary A.W. Banfield. From his base in Tsonga Reverend A.W. Banfield organised and used the UMS to spread Christianity to all other parts of KinNupe and the rest of Northern Nigeria. He was able to train and send missionaries, both foreign and natives, to all the nooks and corners of KinNupe and the rest of Northern Nigeria. It was also Banfield who set up the first printing press in Nigeria at Tsonga. With this he was able to print so many Christian missionary books. This first printing press at Tsonga later on became known as the Niger Press. He spent quite an incredible amount of time and energy studying the Nupe language and successfully came up with a detailed and comprehensive analysis of the tonal system of the Nupe language. And, with his extraordinary gift at mastering the Nupe language, he was eventually able to translate the entire Bible into Nupe. This, of course, is one of his most enduring masterpieces. Accomplishing the almost impossible feat of translating the entire Bible into Nupe language is an accomplishment for which Reverend Banfield will be remembered for all times. Reverend A.W. Banfield spent twelve solid and ardours years working assiduously at Tsonga. Through his laudable energy and focus he was able to build the trio of the UMS, the Niger Press, and Tsonga into three formidable hallmarks in the history of missionary Christianity in Nigeria. Actually, proselytising work at Tsonga, a Nupe Islamic emirate, was also not that easy and Reverend Banfield was actually able to convert only a few number of Nupe people at Tsonga to Christianity. But the influence of his remarkable printing and missionary works at Tsonga had far-reaching effects in all parts of Northern Nigeria. The UMS base at Tsonga was later on relocated to Jebba and then to Mokwa due in part to the stiff opposition of the Tsonga and Patigi people to the missionary activities of the UMS. Lagos In 1917 Reverend A.W. Banfield was appointed the Secretary of the BFBS society and was subsequently transferred to Lagos to head the West African headquarters of the society there. He spent the next fifteen years there at Lagos working indefatigably as he oversaw the activities, especially the linguistic ones, of the BFBS society. He retired from active service in 1930. Picture: Reverend Banfield with a Nupe assistant in his days at Tsonga.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 21:21:27 +0000
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