The Queen died yesterday Thursday, September 8th 2022 at the age of 96 and it is a good time to begin a throwback on the times she visited Nigeria.
The Queen (Queen Elizabeth II) was the monarchical authority who had the constitutional position as the Head of State of Nigeria from 1953-1960.
The Queen is the ruler of the United Kingdom and the other commonwealth nations.
Under British rule, Queen Elizabeth served as a monarch until the country became a republic in 1960.
She performed ceremonial duties in her capacity as the head of state of colonized Nigeria.
She visited Nigeria twice.
She came to Nigeria for the first time in 1956 as part of her royal tour to Commonwealth countries, from January 28 to February 16.
Her arrival was full of pomp and pageantry. Many dignitaries greeted her at the airport, including Sir James Robertson, the governor-general, and Festus Okotie-Eboh, the then-minister of labour and welfare.
The former capital was Lagos state and that was where she landed. She was driven around in a Rolls Royce. She went on a royal tour of Lagos and many places other places. She also travelled to Northern Nigeria where she visited the Sultan of Sokoto. The Queen also went to Kano, Kaduna, Enugu and Jos.
The second time she visited Nigeria was during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which took place from December third to sixth 2003.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2003 was the 18th time the Commonwealth heads were met.
Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s then-president, hosted the event in Abuja. She came with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.
The conflict during the Commonwealth meeting was the crisis in Zimbabwe over Secretary-General Don McKinnon’s re-election. Robert Mugabe declared that Zimbabwe was leaving the Commonwealth just before the gathering ended.
Even though many countries were declaring independence at the time she ascended the throne (1953), the Queen always expressed love for the Commonwealth countries.
