Hausa policy was swiftly enacted. It was a costly declaration of war but Abu deemed it vital in order to free the Mali people from the oppression of Hausan rule. An advisor unwisely pointed out that the Hausan rulers were Mali too and that the war would be aggression not liberation. He was swiftly clubbed. To avoid any further such incidents Abu coined the term Aggresso-Liberation as a name for such a war.
The Aggresso-Liberators headed across the border in two places in order to catch the defeated Hausan army whichever way it should head after the battle with the animists.
The first half of the war was described by one clubman as "
fun but uneventful". That was taken as a good sign. After all events tend to mean that something hasn't gone according to plan.
The main Hausan lands are all occupied.
Matters became a little more complicated during the second half of the war. It would need to be conducted on a distant front. Hausa owns several provinces by the seaside.
Oddly enough the greatest resistance of the war was met simply in the process of marching to the rest of Hausa's lands. Fortunately the natives (although aren't we natives too?) attacked not just us but Hausa too. Forcing their troops into retreat.
Once reaching the coast there were many back and forth battles before the Hausan army was completely destroyed and all was in the control of Kanem Bornu.
Two men engage in a table top game recreating the battles between Hausa and Kanem Bornu
All that remained to be done was for the spoils of war to be decided upon. Several wise ministers advised that Abu should take only a minimal number of provinces. A large empire, they cautioned, would be hard to rule. Abu though had other ideas. He saw in the club a solution to any tricky problems that might arise in the future. So with that in mind Kanem Bornu was more than doubled in size as Hausa was carved up.