Britain's Prince Charles gets warm welcome in north Nigeria

by Aminu Abubakar
1 hour, 44 minutes ago
 

Britain's Prince Charles received a warm and noisy welcome in the ancient Muslim city of Kano in northern Nigeria, the same venue visited by his mother 50 years ago.

Cheering crowds made the normally frenetic streets of the city near-impassable as they turned out to greet the heir to the British throne on his third visit to this former British colony.

The Prince was greeted by Kanos deputy governor, Magaji Abdullahi, and then drove through the city to the rural community of Dawakin Kudu, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) East of Kano, to visit local craftsmen.

Most of the little town's 30,000 inhabitants appeared to have turned out to greet Charles, the men cheering and the women, veiled in black, ululating.

Charles walked, dressed in a grey suit in the wilting heat, along a street freshly swept for the occasion to reach a 400-year-old dye pit.

Gun-toting policeman fought to keep the crowds of well-wishers behind the ropes and black-uniformed security guards fought a losing battle with dusty children jostling to get a glimpse of the visitor.

Charles appeared absorbed in the visit, proudly holding up his hands stained with blue dye.

"I am delighted to be in this remarkable village today and it is a particular joy to see what happens here, the kind of products made for centuries which is of the highest quality," Charles told the traditional chief of the village, the wheelchair-bound Yusuf Bayero.

"It is fascinating to see the whole process of weaving, dyeing of your marvelous indigo clothes and I am happy that I am taking some indigo stains on my hands back home," he went on.

Escorted by the head of the local council Sani Adamu Gano, the royal prince, who was not accompanied by his second wife Camilla, inspected pottery, leather, wooden crockery and traditional garments displayed under thatch-roofed verandahs put up especially for the occasion.

Outside the hut, Prince Charles spent several minutes shaking hands with a line of men in Touareg style shiny indigo-dyed turbans before mingling with the crowd.

This was Prince Charles third visit to Nigeria, following trips in 1990 and 1999, but his first to Kano. A colourful fiesta was organised for his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at the same venue when she visited Kano in 1956.

His younger sister, Princess Anne, cancelled her scheduled trip to Kano during her 2002 visit to Nigeria, however, when leaflets were circulated by individuals calling for a protest against her visit.

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 29.11.2006 13:43

Exxcuzme  Villager

# 2 Who provided Prince Charles a throne-like chair while the Emir sat like a subject in his own land? I guess the picture shows who is the true King. Posted by Exxcuzme| 29.11.2006 15:22

emj  Villager

# 3 =Exxcuzme;140173>Who provided Prince Charles a throne-like chair while the Emir sat like a subject in his own land? I guess the picture shows who is the true King. I suppose that colonial mentality is still at play...........The Emir being the subject and Charles being King.:confused1 The people in charge of Protocol etc etc did not for a moment think properly about the sitting arrangement. Prince charles IMHO would have felt more comfortable sitting on the couch beside the Emir:eek: He must be saying in his mind.....,,,,heneeee.......what manner of people.:p Hmmmmm.....so he visited the famous Indigo Tie and Dye pits in kano. Hope they arranged at least a Mini-Durbar to further entertain him:p He did not take Camilla with him.........hmmmmm :cool: Caboose » Kano Durbar Posted by emj| 29.11.2006 19:39

Auspicious  Villager

# 4 Weird, I know, but it strikes me as the Emir looks menacing enough to have Charlie Boy for dinner..like I Lion would a scared Zebra..LOL! Auspicious. Posted by Auspicious| 29.11.2006 20:09

DeepThought  Villager

# 5 What? No pics of the usual bare footed bare breasted dancing maidens to welcome him? or maybe that was probably at the airport? Posted by DeepThought| 29.11.2006 20:40

emj  Villager

# 6 =DeepThought;140217>What? No pics of the usual bare footed bare breasted dancing maidens to welcome him? or maybe that was probably at the airport? Actually they did:biggrin: with some men in loin-cloth pranzing all over the tarmac:D Here is the pics(if admin will allow u to view it):rolleyes: oops dat pic cannot be viewed 4 security reasons etc etc ati bee be lo, but u can view dis in it's stead. Nigerian Cultural Dance Group Posted by emj| 29.11.2006 20:49

Naija for life  Villager

# 7 No wonder Oyinbo people consider themselves superior to us. If a Nigerian prince visited Wales, would he receive such sumptous treatment? Does Nigeria even receive any mentions in the Welsh media? If we had any respect for ourselves as a people, we'd give Mr. rabbit ears the only advice he deserves: "GO AND GET A JOB!" Alas, ice-cold gatorade will flow freely in hell before Black people will ever muster the nerve to antagonize Oyinbo so brazenly. Posted by Naija for life| 29.11.2006 21:00

Soul Sista  Villager

# 8 Does the Emir usually sit on a throne? If the Emir is sitting on the seat that he usually sits on (sits on when he has important guests), what does it matter that in "our eyes" Prince Charles' guest seat is grander than the Emir's? Are we sure that we are not looking at this through "Westernized" eyes: It is a throne, therefore the Emir, not the prince, should be sitting on it. But, what is a throne? It is whatever the King sits on. I am not sure, but I loathe to judge the book by its cover without more. Some Western/Western trained anthropologists argue that lesbanism was common in some Nigerian cultures because women "marry" other women. They don't know the social factors behind that. Others argue that male homosexuality was common because diviners dressed in women's clothing and plaited their hair. They don't know the sociological factors behind the the appearance of diviners. Soul Sista a/k/a Soul Sizzling Posted by Soul Sista| 29.11.2006 21:34

DeepThought  Villager

# 9 Emj, Pls forgive me for forgeting to mention the half naked men also. But being a man, I tend to notice the other ones more. Unfortunately its almost as if our stupidity knows no bounds. Sombody oppresses us and we dance naked to welcome/entertain them. Me I don tire O Posted by DeepThought| 29.11.2006 21:35

ithinkbetter  Villager

# 10 hi folks! there's a significant moral and cultural bond bindings here...! no need to over-zealously inserting unnecessary definition into the interpretation of the picture above...the message embeds in the picture is clear enough: Charles is the true king of superhuman-England and the emir of Kano is just a local subhuman-maddog-king of a local animal-farm-village in a local animal-farm-country known as Nigeria somewhere in a local subhuman-continent called Africa....! Posted by ithinkbetter| 30.11.2006 04:45

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