Publisher's Synopsis
The emirates of Northern Nigeria are generally held as BritainÆs model colonial administration in Africa. Accustomed for nearly half a century to a cosy collaboration with the colonial administration, political development during the terminal phase of British rule and early independence tormented the emirate aristocracies. Their responses to this development, its impact on their authority and their survival strategies constitute the main focus of the book. Unlike previous studies, Dr YakubuÆs concern is not with party politics or administrative changes per se but a combination of the two developments approached, not from the angle of the modernization thesis so fashionable in the 1960s, but from the perspective of the emirÆs perception of this development and its consequences on their authority, power and privileges. The book enriches the discussion of the evolution and demise of indirect rule, the rise of a western-educated counter-elite, the emergence and activities of political parties, the impact of administrative reforms on the emirs prior to independence and their subsequent relationship with the indigenous government of Northern Nigeria. The book is based on an extensive use of hitherto inaccessible primary sources which make it a unique contribution to the historiography of the Nigerian emirates and commendable reading to scholars and others interested in aristocratic response to political development in colonial and independent Africa.
