This ward is situated to the northwest of Anguwan Karfe. Anguwan Nufawa apparently appeared to be founded by people of Nupe stock. The history of the Nupe people in Zaria dated back to the 15th century following the establishment of some forms of relationships between Zazzau and Nupe-land. Initially this relationship was in the form of military encounters between the two. It was because of these encounters that Zazzau obtained a large number of slaves from Nupe-land. Thus, this marked the beginning of the settlement of Nupe people in Zaria. The other form of relationship took the form of trade following the expansion of commerce in Zaria around the 15th century. This development led to the immigration and subsequent settlement of various groups of Nupawa particularly Merchants, traders and skilled artisans inside the Birni. These forms of relationships are clearly demonstrated in the Kano chronicle.
Queen Amina conquered all the towns as far as Kwararrafa and Nupe. Every town paid tribute to her. The Sarkin Nupe sent forty Eunuchs and ten thousands kola to her. She first had Eunuchs in Hausa land. In her time the whole of the product of the west were brought to Hausa land.
The first settlement of these migrants in Birnin Zaria appeared to be a large compound now popularly referred to as gidan Alkalin Ja`e. The compound assumed this name following the settlement of Malam Ibrahim who is said to be a Scholar belonging to the Sullubawa Fulani descent group. Local tradition maintains that Malam Ibrahim came to Zaria from Richifa with a large number of students. While in Zaria, he first settled in the house of Limamin Kona before he finally settled in the compound. His major preoccupation at Anguwan Nufawa was teaching, farming and cattle rearing.
A very interesting and intimate relationship seemed to have developed between Malam Ibrahim and one Ja’e who was a very rich pastoralist. Malam Ibrahim had been a close confident of Ja’e to such extent that he consulted Ja’e on almost everything. It was because of this that Malam Ibrahim was nicked named Alkalin Ja’e (solicitor of Ja’e), hence the reference to the big house in Anguwan Nufawa as Gidan Alkalin Ja’e. According to local tradition these important personalities participated in the Jihad in Zaria.
This compound was believed to be the only building that occupied the ward in the past. Traditions with regard to the historical significance of this compound vary. One of the traditions has it that Queen Amina built it. The traditions further stated that the scale and extent of the compound, which is still comparable only to the royal Palace, was built to serve as a guesthouse for the Queen’s guests, servants and slaves.
A variation of this tradition claims that the big compound was meant for accommodating traders and merchants coming to Zaria with products such as textiles, kola nut, slaves and so on and hence, the strategic location of the compound at the centre of the north-south trade route.
Following the gradual influx of migrants into the compound and making Zaria a permanent home by some of them, Anguwan Nufawa gradually expanded with the big compound (gidan Ja’e) forming the nucleus of the ward.
The Nufawa gradually emerged as important elements within the Birni because of their numerical strength and the important role they played in the socio economic development of the Birni. This was the circumstance that informed the Sarautar Sarkin Nufawa in Zaria. The Sarkin Nufawa was among other things responsible for the collection of taxes on various textile products produced by the Nupe artisans, provision of accommodation for immigrants from Nupe-land as well as adjudicating in cases of disputes involving members of the ethnic group. The institution of the sarautar Nufawa was well established to the extent that other official titleholders emerged. This included: Dangaladima, Sarkin Fada and Madakin Sarkin Nupe.
Succession into the office of the Sarki rotates between three main compounds namely: the compound of Sarkin Nufawa Umaru, the compound of Sarkin Nufawa Ibrahim and the compound of Sarkin Nufawa Abdussalami.
Apart from immigrants from Nupe-land other groups of people were equally attracted into this quarter particularly around the 18th century following the settlement of large groups of Scholars and Pastorals in the ward.