JOS PLATEAU, NIGERIA
TERRACOTTA, HEIGHT 54CM

7.  When Njitoyap was getting ready to return home from the ordination ceremony, Imam Garba took him to a private room where he presented him with gifts, including some terracotta pieces. Imam Garba told Njitoyap about the discovery of his grandfather and how he was asked to treasure them. He went on to explain that he has to let them go because he had become a cleric and  should not be keeping idols he is preaching against. “I could not, he added, give them just to anyone, as accusations of religIous infidelity might be levelled against me in accordance with provisions of the MALIKLI ISLAM LAW. I have to give them to someone outside the Kingdom of Tibali.”