Attahiru was very insistent.
“If they want peace and security, they should make Shehu Sarkin Sudan the next Sultan.”
Of the four ruling houses of the Sokoto Caliphate, he was the favourite contender from the House of Bello. The house of Bello, I gather, is considered the bona fide lineage at the moment. Part of the reason nobody liked Dasuki back in the 1990s was he was imposed by Babangida who changed the ruling house.
“Things have changed. With money now you can buy this thing. Its like when your queen dies, Tony Blair taking the crown and giving it to someone completely different,” Attahiru said.
According to Attahiru the kingmakers are supposed to ensure the successor is the right person for the job, but they are supposed to limit their choices to the same family. “Or then brothers will be asking ‘what’s going on?’ and start this thing and that thing.”
When Dasuki came to the throne there was widespread violence in the north.
In the end it was a surprise outsider who took the title. Colonel Mohammedu Sa’ad, grandson of Sultan Abubakar, is the 20th Sultan. Happily for Attahiru, the Colonel’s from the same house as Sarkin Sudan.
“Ya! See? They did the right thing," he said this morning, grin cracked accross his face.
In the news room we had a problem trying to decide if he was still a Colonel. The government called him a Brigadier General, but he only handed in his final assessment at military school yesterday. So we stuck with Colonel.
Attahiru is often called “the governor”, or “Bafarawa” because he shares a first name with the Sokoto Governor. In his declaration at the Sultan’s palace Gov. Bafarawa said: “The appointment of Col. Abubakar III is an act of God which nobody can dispute.”
His evidence for this?
“Because when the news came to me that there was a plane crash and the Sultan was involved, I prayed to God to guide me in making the right decision and today from what we have witnessed God has answered our prayers.”
Apparently, according to our correspondent in Sokoto, the crowd were very pleased.