By Alex Last
BBC News, Nigeria

The Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sada Abubakar, received the staff of office which formalises the government's recognition of his position.

He became sultan after the death of his elder brother, Sultan Maccido, who died in a plane crash last year.

The ceremony took place in front of a crowd of thousands.

He was handed the staff by the state governor in the ancient city of Sokoto. Then members of the nobility, wearing turbans and ceremonial robes, cantered up on horseback to salute him.

The ceremony was attended by the president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and his bitter political rival, vice president Atiku Abubakar, who is campaigning to become president in elections in April.

The ceremony, with its staff of office, dates back to colonial times, and is a deliberate show that it is the government that ultimately endorses his appointment.

The 20th Sultan of Sokoto comes from a line of leaders who date back 200 years to the once vast Sokoto Caliphate, which spanned a huge swathe of West Africa.

Though his position now is largely ceremonial, he still retains considerable influence - crucial in a country which has witnessed bouts of sectarian and ethnic violence.