The word Sullube that is the singular of the Sullubawa perhaps originated from Sisillo the ancestor of the Sullubawa and husband of Cippowo sister of Uthman Toroddo ancestor of Shehu Usman Danfodio (Ado-Kurawa 1989:45-49). This relationship made the Sullubawa to be regarded as cousins of the Toronkawa. The Sullubawa belong to the Wangarawa stock, they have Mandigo element in their ancestry and they are also related to the Mandika. They spoke Wakore before they became absorbed into the Fulani group, thus they lost their original language and adopted Fulfulde (Usman 1974: 168-169). Today most of the descendants of Ibrahim Dabo Dan Mahmud the first Sullube Sarki of Kano cannot speak Fulfude.

The Sullubawa were among the earliest Fulfude speaking clans who migrated from Futa Toro into Hausaland. By the middle of the twelfth century Hijra the Sullubawa had established their chiefdom at Zandam with the Sarkin Sullubawa as their tribal chief. They dispersed to various parts of Hausaland particularly the Sokoto-Rima area, Zazzau region, various parts of Kasar Katsina and the Kasar Kano. In Kano their main settlements were Kanwa, Kiru and Fagwalawa. The reasons for their migrations were not obvious but they must have been associated with increase in their number, political loyalties and probably the contention over the title of Sarkin Sullubawa (Ado-Kurawa 1989:45). It has been suggested that they migrated from Kasar Katsina to other parts of Hausaland in the eighteenth century in order to get away from the war between Gobir and Katsina. The Sullubawa were perhaps the most organised of all those considered to be Fulbe Siiri (settled Fulani), they had their communal leadership even before the Jihad. Katsina tried to use them against Gobir and the latter against Shehu Usman. A few supported Gobir while most of them supported Shehu Usman during the Jihad campaigns (Last 1977: 14-16).