TRIBUNE
Ahmadu Rabah was 28 years old in 1938 when he made a very strong bid for the Sultanate of Sokoto. He lost the throne to Alhaji Siddiq Abubakar, a man who was not even on the list of three submitted to the British Resident. Fatalists would say that was destiny at work. Ahmadu Rabah later became known as Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Nigeria’s Northern region. But he was still not content with all the political power he had over the Sultan and the entire sultanate; he wanted that throne. At the very height of his political glory, he said very clearly that he would be pleased to take the post of Sultan of Sokoto if the position became open. Sultan Abubakar III was quoted, famously, as saying, repeatedly, that “the Sardauna is waiting for me to die.” But it didn’t happen; destiny intervened on January 15, 1966. Sultan Abubakar III went on to reign in admirable peace for 50 years. Ahmadu Bello’s biographer, John N. Paden, wrote in 1986 that “if the Sardauna had become Sultan…he might have tried to set up the Sultan of Sokoto as Head of State of Nigeria…” I am sure Nigeria would have taken care of that ambition if he had tried it. But, another scholar, Jonathan T. Reynolds, stretched this further in 1997 with a more thinkable possibility: “It may well be that the Sardauna hoped to reintegrate political and religious authority in the north with himself as both Sultan and premier.” There are lessons in the Sardauna story for all stool contenders.
For princes, kingship is sweet and nothing compares to sitting on the throne, whatever the sacrifice. And, they can be resolute in pursuing their ambition even when the chances of success are very slim. Those who succeed in having the crown credit their destiny and thank their stars. Those who fail rarely agree that it is not their destiny to be king. So, they fight on, forever in the air, on the land and under the sea – until fate says the final yes or no.
Christians see themselves as persons of destiny; people fated to be saved. Today is Christmas, their day. About a week before today, at the Beulah Baptist Conference Centre, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, an interdenominational thanksgiving service was held for the new Soun of Ogbomoso, Oba Afolabi ‘Ghandi’ Olaoye. At the event, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), highly respected Pastor Enoch Adeboye, said the new Soun was destined from the womb to be oba. In an apparent response to persons who wondered why the General Overseer encouraged a pentecostal pastor to plunge head-long into a cavernous cultural grove, Pastor Adeboye declared: “To my critics, if I said no and God said yes, whose word is the final? God, of course. So, I cannot stop him because Pastor Ghandi Olaoye was destined to be a king even before he was born; and thank God, it is coming to fruition.” Olaoye was a senior pastor in RCCG before his selection as the 21st Soun.
There are issues around the kingship of the new king. Some use his faith to query his presence in the secluded presence of the ancestors. Really, what would drive a born-again Christian pastor to sit on a stool sanctified with the spirits of the ancestors? Such posers are not without some validity: a pastor sitting on the throne of his fathers means drinking from the same vessel with the undead, undying past. Why would a pastor mix his holy communion with the quaint brew of the ancient? But, people who made this query are not looking at the ‘undue’ influence of destiny in the affairs of men. We are each born to play specific roles in our allotted space. Whatever that role is, we know not; we only work and wish and wait for its manifestation.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN TRIBUNE
