Nigeria’s royal wedding: Private jets, glitz and glamour

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Picture courtesy: bbc.com @WRAITH_STUDIOS Yusuf Buhari and Zahra Nasir Bayero met at the UK's University of Surrey

Private jets filled up the runway of the airport in the northern Nigerian city of Kano as members of Nigeria’s elite and West African dignitaries flew in for the wedding of the president’s son and the daughter of a prominent religious and traditional leader.

The marriage of Yusuf Buhari to Zahra Nasir Bayero is one of Nigeria’s biggest celebrity events of the year.

Thousands attended the event at the palace of the Emir of Bichi, a town in Kano state.

One historian told the BBC that a wedding between presidential and royal families was unprecedented in Nigeria.

The pair met at the University of Surrey in the UK.

The festivities are continuing later on Saturday, when the bride’s father Nasir Ado Bayero is being officially crowned as the Emir of Bichi.

 Her uncle is the Emir of Kano, one of Nigeria’s most prominent Islamic leaders.

The groom’s family paid 500,000 naira ($1,200; £900) as the bride price – about 10 times the average amount in northern Nigeria.

The BBC’s Ishaq Khalid in Nigeria says the pre-wedding pictures of the bride caused controversy on social media, with some calling her clothing “immoral” because her shoulders were exposed, while others defended her.

Courtesy: bbc.com/news