Nigeria, the land of plenty

saluting the Emir with a handkerchief The new moon has finally been sighted, this closes the month of Ramadan and marks the first day of Eid el Fitr celebrations. On that day a durbar took place in Zaria. After the morning prayers, a huge procession of thousands of richly clad horse-men is coming to pay hommage to the Emir of Zazzau . when acrobats compete with traditional horsemen at the Durbar The men are dressed with elaborate turbans and several layers of richly embroidered clothes. It is a day of celebration and the crowd is immense to witness this parade. Every balcon, roof, tree and street light is crowded people. on the way to the morning prayer before the Durbar under his orange-embroidered hood, the Emir of Zazzau, Shehu Idriss, arrives at the Palace The procession is 2 or 3 km long and ends on the square facing the palace of the Emir. Each group of horse-men represent a different clan or family. The head of the clan is usually wearing a white head gear, but...

the Magajin Garin of Zazzau in his audience room Northern states in Nigeria are composed of a number of Emirates. The Emirs are the rulers of the people. Many of them of Fulani origin while the population is mostly from Hausa origin. In the particular case of Zaria, Fulani warriors conquered the Emirate at the beginning of the 19th century (1805) and since then Emirs are been chosen from the royal family. There is therefore a blood tie between them. Among the famous Emirates is the one of Zaria with Alhaji Shehu Idriss being the Emir of Zazzau, Kano with the Emir Muhamadu Sanusi II who was previously minister of finance in the government of Jonathan Goodluck, under the name of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi. He was asked to go upon revealing the existing a hole of several billion dollars in the State coffers. Then there are Sokoto, Katsina, etc... the old town in Zaria Zaria is a town famous for its Usman Danfodio University with several tenth of thousand students, for its old town ma...