In the European scamble for Africa towards the end of the 19th century, Britain declared itself for the Oil Rivers Protectorate to gain monopoly of the palm oil trade in what is now part of the land it put together as a country. Later it formed the first Federation of Nigeria with the former Royal Niger Company as its principle commercial operator, and the indigenous people of tha area, the Niger Delta, the suppliers of raw materials that Britian needed for its factories. The author is one of Africa's foremost poets. Drawing upon offcial documents and the oral tradition he presents a powerful panorama of the players in the original drama of the creation of Nigeria.