"I got a job teaching in the history department of Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, northern Nigeria, in the early 1970s. The name of the university gives a clue to why research for this book was fascinating and worth doing. The Vice-Chancellor of the university was a Christian, Dr Ishaya Audu. He had been Sir Ahmadu Bello’s personal physician and went on to become Minister of External Affairs in 1979 under President Shehu Shagari. My appointment at the university unwittingly placed me at the bottom end of a hierarchy. Yakubu Gowon...