By this evening a note of caution had crept into Attahiru's voice.
"I was talking to some people who say Dasuki would have been better..."
Oh yeah.
"There is a worry that this man now is a military man. Some people might come to him and say 'aha! We need action!' And he gives it to them."
The role of the Sultan is to represent the estimated 70 million Muslims in Nigeria. Maccido had been a vocal peace maker in times of violence between Muslim and Christian, even if he had done it while being ferried around in a N60 million Mercedes, paid for by Sokoto state.
"You see the job of the Sultan is to represent his people, to find out what they want and bring it for them. Jokolo, the emir of Gwandu was like this, but they said he was stubborn."
Jokolo was deposed from his emir's throne by Obasanjo. Now on the brink of dying, he's been prevented from going to the US for hospital treatment he desperately needs for a catalogue of serious health problems.
"But In my own case, I believe that whatever God has chosen is the right one."
But I thought the kingmakers chose the sultan?
"Aha, yes. Whatever god has chosen to tell the kingmakers. Maybe they thought Dasuki was not right."