The Gobarau Minaret reaches for the sky,
A mud-brick finger pointing toward the grace;
Where ancient scholars came to live and die,
And seek the wisdom of the human race.
Before the book was common in the south,
Katsina was the light of northern thought;
Where proverbs lived in every teacher’s mouth,
And holy truths were diligently sought.
The desert wind blows through the open yard,
Where students sat to chant the sacred verse;
With faith and logic as their inner guard,
Against the chaos of the universe.
A city of the mind, both old and wise,
Underneath the vast and open Sahel skies.
Old Oyo: The Alaafin’s Ghost
Where granite boulders break the rolling green,
The silent ruins of the palace lie;
The greatest power that the west had seen,
Underneath the Oyo-Ile sky.
The Gbonka and the Timi fought their duels,
While Sango’s lightning shook the very ground;
The empire flourished under ancient rules,
Until the Fulani drums began to sound.
The horses died, the thatch was set to flame,
The people fled to found the town anew;
But nothing ever carried quite the name,
Of where the original empire’s power grew.
Now only lizards sun upon the stone,
Where once the King sat on his ivory throne.
Daura: The Well of the Snake
At Kusugu, the ancient well remains,
Where Bayajidda slew the serpent’s head;
To break the drought and end the people’s pains,
And earn the queenly hand in royal bed.
From seven sons the Hausa states were born,
Each with a task to guard the northern soil;
To plant the cotton and to grind the corn,
And prosper through their dedicated toil.
The legend lives in every brick and bone,
A mythic start for all the city-states;
Where bravery was carved in desert stone,
And destiny swung wide the city gates.
The mother-well still offers water cool,
To those who live by Daura’s ancient rule.
Ijebu-Ode: The Sungbo’s Eredo
A forest wall, a trench of deep design,
Was dug by thousands in the sun and rain;
To mark a mighty woman’s border line,
And guard the secrets of the coastal plain.
Sungbo’s Eredo, miles of earth and depth,
A feat of engineering long ago;
Where ancient sentries quiet watches kept,
And watched the kingdom’s riches start to grow.
The soil is red, the canopy is high,
The moss has covered every earthen mound;
But glory does not simply fade and die,
It waits within the hollows of the ground.
A monument to wealth and female will,
That keeps the forest spirits dreaming still
Bida: The Glass and Brass
The Masaga craftsmen sit in circles round,
To breathe the fire into molten glass;
Where ancient techniques are forever found,
And handed down as changing seasons pass.
In Bida’s heart, the Nupe spirit glows,
In shining brass and beads of vibrant red;
A river of creative genius flows,
Through fingers that the ancestors have led.
The Etsu Nupe reigns in quiet state,
While anvils ring throughout the busy day;
No modern machine can replicate,
The beauty made in this traditional way.
A city forged in heat and patient skill,
That keeps the ancient crafts a living will.
Lokoja: The Meeting of the Waters
Where Benue meets the Niger’s mighty flow,
The waters marry in a churning swirl;
And ancient tribes watched the river grow,
Into the liquid heart of all the world.
The iron-crested hills look down below,
Where Lugard’s shadow first began to fall;
But long before the colonial winds did blow,
The river called a message to them all.
A crossroads for the canoe and the soul,
Where northern grain met southern forest fruit;
The waters kept the fractured regions whole,
And gave the rising nation its first root.
The confluence remains a sacred sight,
Where two great spirits join in silver light.
Abeokuta: The Under-Stone Refuge
The Egba fled the fire of the war,
To find a sanctuary in the rock;
Olumo’s shadow was the open door,
That shielded them from every sudden shock.
They built their homes beneath the granite eaves,
And carved a city from the mountain side;
Where every heart in liberty believes,
And ancient gods in rocky clefts reside.
From Lisabi’s brave strength the city grew,
A fortress town of pepper and of cloth;
Where every citizen the secret knew:
That unity is stronger than the moth.
The "Refuge in the Rocks" still stands today,
To watch the modern world pass on its way.
(Sonnets 16–25 continue to explore the hidden histories of Owo, Keffi, Idah, Ngazargamu, Arochukwu, Iseyin, Kano’s Indigo Pits, The Nok Terracotta sites, Gwandu, and the Sokoto Caliphate’s early seats.)
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