Emir of Kano and Ooni of Ife in Israel
Israel's return to black Africa has not been as rapid as expected, but the process is continuing and is apparently gaining new momentum with Foreign Ministry officials saying last week that a resumption of relations with African countries on a large scale was imminent.
The two Nigerian leaders arrived in Israel for a visit which was described as a pilgrimage to holy sites but during which they were to meet the President and the Prime Minister. The two leaders are the Emir of Kano from northern Nigeria and the Yoruba King, the leaders of a tribe numbering no fewer than 26 million people. The visit by the Muslim Emir iş more interesting. For, it is an unprecedented move which apparently heralds Israel's penetration into Muslim parts of Africa as well, areas entirely closed in the past.
Israelis who have returned from Lagos, the Nigerian capital, also tell of the great popularity Israel enjoys there as a result of the attempted kidnapping of the former Nigerian Minister, Dikko, in London.
But the military Government has denounced the visit by two of the country's leading traditional rulers and repeated that "Nigeria does not intend to resume diplomatic relations" with the Jewish state.
Some local newspapers published front page reports of the visit to Israel by Oba Sijuade II, the Ooni of Ife, and Alhaji Ado Bayero, the Emir of Kano.
Dr Ibrahim Gambari, the External Affairs Minister, said the Federal Military Government "was not aware of the visit" and denied any suggestion that the two rulers were representing Nigeria in any way. The visit by chiefs known to be close to the ruling supreme Military Council had provoked widespread speculation that Nigeria's seven-month-old military government may be considering re-establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.
In an indication that the Government might take some sort of disciplinary action against the chiefs on their return, Dr Gambari said: "The traditional rulers would not have been permitted to leave their domains if they had told their respective military governors that they were going to visit Israel."
