After their stay in Britain, Dikko and his entourage sailed to Jeddah to perform the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. This trip was facilitated by the British government, which arranged for visas and entry permits. The pilgrimage was a private spiritual undertaking for Dikko, separate from his British adventures.
maybe his original goal- Britain a stopping point, have his power validated by the big imperial powers of the time
These trips were facilitated by British colonizers, who saw them as part of a broader project of exhibiting British metropolitan civilization to allegedly impressionable African colonial subjects. Dikko, a wealthy Muslim king and colonial intermediary, paid for the trips but received permission and extensive logistical support from British colonial and metropolitan authorities.
shown what they want him to see
teracted as the exhibition’s audience, mainly white Britons, walked by or stopped to gaze voyeuristically at them
British newspapers and publications reported on Dikko's itinerary, often featuring photos of him and his entourage. The Illustrated London News published a picture of the male members of the group, while The Leeds Mercury displayed a photo of the two women in the delegation. Dikko and his group visited the Wembley British Empire Exhibition, where they saw a replica of the famous clay walls of Kano city, a gate fashioned in Nigeria, and a Nigerian Pavilion designed to resemble an emir's palace compound. The pavilion housed seventy African men, women, and children living in mud and straw huts, cooking their own meals, and conducting daily affairs. Dikko's presence at the exhibition was meant to authenticate the display, but he and his party became part of the exhibition, with some colonial correspondents referring to them as a "naturalistic attraction." Despite the racial undertones of the exhibition, Dikko seemed to enjoy the experience, marveling at the accurate depiction of a Hausa village setting. Dikko's visit to Britain was part of a larger practice of imperial courtship and patronage, where colonial intermediaries were cultivated and feted with contrived hospitality. The trips to Britain represented attempts to dazzle Dikko and his entourage, giving them a glimpse into the might and modernity of the empire. For Dikko, the trips carried prestige and enhanced his mediatory repertoire, enabling him to carve out a position of exclusive local knowledge and expertise on British metropolitan society among his peers and subjects.
British publicity and dazzling colonial subjects, theatrical displays
his peers and subjects in Northern Nigeria a textual reference for navigating colonial culture in relation to their own natal Islamo-Hausa cultural norms.
not exclusively
reaffirming British authority and Dikko's place in it.