Yelwa

Yelwa is a town in Kebbi State on the Niger River and the capital and largest town of the Yauri Emirate, serving as the emirate's market center and trade hub; besides trade, its economy is centered on agriculture and fishing. Yelwa became the Yauri capital in 1888, after the previous capital, the island of Ikum, was abandoned following a period of civil conflict; the emirate itself traces to the mid-16th-century conquest of the Yauri kingdom by Muhammadu Kanta, founder of the Kebbi kingdom, with the Hausa ruler of Yauri pledging allegiance to the Emir of Gwandu around 1810 to become the first Fulani-era emir.

Yelwa is also known as the site of a severe outbreak of religious violence between Muslim and Christian communities between February and May 2004, in which several hundred people were killed and the town and surrounding villages suffered heavy destruction and displacement.