Muhammadu Attahiru I

Muhammadu Attahiru I was the twelfth Sultan of the Sokoto Caliphate, from October 1902 until 15 March 1903, and the last independent sultan before the British conquest (Wikipedia). When British forces advanced on Sokoto in 1903, he and many followers left the city on what he described as a hijra, to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi. The British entered the largely deserted city and on 21 March 1903 installed Muhammadu Attahiru II as the new sultan.

Attahiru came to the throne in October 1902, on the death of Sultan Abderrahman dan Abi Bakar, when British forces had already taken parts of the caliphate; Frederick Lugard had used rivalries between the southern emirates and Sokoto to prevent a united defence (Wikipedia). As a British-led force approached Sokoto, Attahiru organised a hasty defence and fought outside the city, but British firepower won quickly and caused heavy losses among his men.

After leaving Sokoto he travelled through the countryside gathering supporters, pursued by the British. The British and the emirs who worked with them were alarmed by the numbers who joined him; his following grew to thousands as it moved through Zamfara and Kano, and Wikipedia's article on the Sokoto Caliphate records Muslim supporters coming from Hausaland, Segu, Massina and Adamawa towards Burmi, on the far eastern border of the caliphate.

After his death the British displayed photographs of his severed head across Northern Nigeria to "convince the diehards of the futility of fighting" (Wikipedia). Lugard kept the title of sultan as a symbolic position in the new protectorate. Attahiru's son, Muhammad Bello bin Attahiru (Mai Wurno), led the remaining followers to Sudan, where many of their descendants still live.

British forces attacked Attahiru's followers at Burmi (written Mbormi in the source), near present-day Gombe, on 29 July 1903, and he was among those killed (Wikipedia).