The course of destiny (II)

They asked Buhari about the content of the note he was carrying. Buhari naively said it was a letter from the king directing his private secretary (Sallama) to give him a gown to take to his father. The bandits smiled without making any comments. They gave Buhari food and asked him to remain with them […]

They asked Buhari about the content of the note he was carrying. Buhari naively said it was a letter from the king directing his private secretary (Sallama) to give him a gown to take to his father. The bandits smiled without making any comments. They gave Buhari food and asked him to remain with them for safety until dawn when he could continue with his journey.
By daybreak, Buhari could not find his hosts in the cave. He thus continued with his trip which took him three more days to arrive at the palace. After receiving the note, Sallama quickly informed the princess and her mother (the Queen) about the message brought by Buhari from the king. The princess and her mother were happy with the king’s ‘directive’; due probably to the charming look of handsome Buhari. To please the monarch, Sallama gave the new couple one of the king’s private apartments.
Remembering what the aged-woman had foretold about their son becoming the king’s son-in-law, Buhari’s biological mother wanted to find out if Buhari who just married the king’s daughter was her abducted son, Dandaula. One morning, she joined a group of women that was going to greet the newest couple at the palace. She confirmed Buhari to be her son when she saw his right thumb which at birth was curved.
On arrival from his tour, the king asked Sallama if he got his message and the latter replied in the affirmative; adding that he had even lodged Buhari in one of his (i.e. the king’s) private apartments.  The monarch questioned Sallama why he buried such a useless child in his compound. Sallama became confused. The king angrily left the crowd that had gathered to welcome him and hurriedly entered the palace. He quickly called upon his wife to explain what he couldn’t understand from Sallama. She showed him the note which Sallama had given her to keep. After going through, the king exclaimed, “Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raj’un”.
The king instantly sent for his Waziri who came and advised that, “the marriage should remain but the bride price must be reviewed”; adding that “the groom (Buhari) must go to get a string of the master-masquerade’s hair from the jungle”. The king immediately summoned an emergency Council meeting and announced that since the marriage between his daughter and Buhari has been consummated, the only instrument with which to legalize the relationship is for the groom (if he is still interested) to go to the jungle and get a string of hair from the head of the master-masquerade. Buhari publicly accepted to confront the challenge even though the audience doubted his courage in the same way that many doubted the capacity of General Muhammadu Buhari to raise N28million for the purchase of presidential nomination form. He returned to his apartment and told his wife, the princess, about the new task and his desire to undertake it. In tears, Buhari’s wife instantly sent for her mother. She came and explained to her daughter that all that happened in respect of her marriage was by accident, and not by the king’s wish.
Buhari eventually arrived at the masquerade’s den and found an old woman who said the masquerade had gone to meet with some ghosts. After explaining his mission, she promised to help Buhari and thus hid him in a place where the masquerade will not see him on return. At night, she pulled three strings of hair, one after the other from the masquerade’s head when he was fast asleep. Each time the masquerade woke up after a hair was pulled from his head, the old woman would tell the masquerade she was only trying to comfort his head on the pillow. To the surprise and admiration of all, Buhari returned and went straight to the palace. He greeted the king and his council members and handed a string of the masquerade’s hair to the monarch; keeping the remaining two strings with him.
The king aggressively rushed inside the house and requested the Waziri to follow him. At the inner chamber of the palace, the king rebuked the Waziri for his failed cycle of counsel; faulting him for advising him against killing little Dandaula (now Buhari) soon after birth. And like the fight within PDP, the Waziri angrily accused the king of being a tsohon banza (irresponsible old man) who is not prepared to submit to the law of destiny. Waziri’s offensive language provoked the king who charged and attacked the former with a sword placed in one corner of the room. After over-powering the king, the Waziri also collected the sword and smacked the king’s forehead with it. Both of them died instantly.
After waiting for several hours without the king and his Waziri returning from the inner chamber, council members who thought both men were discussing Buhari’s return with the masquerade’s hair peeped into the room only to find them dead. The funeral prayer and burial of the king and the Waziri took place without delay. The kingmakers asked Buhari to bring his father. When his ‘father’ came, he explained how he picked Buhari in a wooden box from the stream.
The palace guard who was made to secretly seize tender Dandaula from his mother also confessed. Buhari’s biological parents thereafter came to the palace and with a reference to his curved right thumb, were finally joined with their son. Buhari, on the unanimous decision of the kingmakers, became next king. Buhari appointed his adopted father as his Waziri. He also sent for the bandits (who changed the king’s note) and appointed them as scribes in the kingdom.
Allah (SWT) says in Qur’an 35:2 “What Allah out of His mercy doth bestow on mankind there is none can withhold: And what He doth withhold, there is none can grant apart from Him; And He is the Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom”. No human intrigues, manipulations, or maneuverings can intercept Allah’s mercies and favours. Whatever are Allah’s plans for General Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the 2015 presidential elections will surely come to pass. A popular Hausa saying is, ‘Zakaran da Allah ya nufe shi cara, ana Muzuru ana Shaho, sai ya yi’, which figurative meaning could roughly be rendered in to English as ‘Whatever will be, will be’. May Allah (SWT) increase our faith in destiny, amin.