Beside the Kaduna River one day last week, a gaudy explosion of sound and color broke over Britain's largest colony. Spearmen whooped and saddlery creaked. Drums bongity-bongity-bongitied. Reed pipes wailed, wooden kafo horns growled out Louis Armstrong blue notes. The Emir of Kano's jester wore his best blue-dyed sheepskin wig and beard. Some of the warriors wore chain mail, wide-bladed swords or helmets of Crusader descent.
They had come over mountains, through jungles, across the tsetse-fly belt, by foot, on horses and camels or in shiny new American cars to pay homage to their Queen, Elizabeth II. It was the...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
