Profile of a sultan as a young man

On November 2, 2006, a military officer was called to strip his khaki and don a turban as the 20th Sultan of Sokoto. Twelve years later, Daily Trust gains insight into the life of Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar before he became the sultan, how during his recruitment into the army he was asked a question he would later face in life when he had to choose between the army and his ancestors’ throne.

In 1975, 19-year-old Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar stood before a panel of army recruiters at the Nigeria Defence Academy seeking to be admitted into the Nigeria Army. They had a question for him: “If it comes to it and you have to choose between being a general in the army and the Sultan of Sokoto which would you choose?”

Many years later, as the 20th Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar would confess to his cousin, Alhaji Muazu Alhaji, a veteran journalist, that when presented with that choice back in ’75, he said the army.

Incidentally, that scene, conjured by a soldier during that interview, would play out 31 years later when as a military attaché in Pakistan, Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, then on the verge of being promoted to a General, was called with news of the death of his brother Sultan Muhammed Maccido in a plane crash. It meant the 200-year-old throne of their forefather, Shehu Usman Dan Fodio would need a new occupant and that occupant would be him.

When crunch time came, he chose the throne over the epaulette.

This was on November 2, 2006. Twelve years have since passed. But when Sa’ad Abubakar retired to take over his father’s throne, he retired as a Brigadier General of the Nigerian Army.

Prince Muazu Alhaji, who attended school with the future Sultan said one of the sterling qualities of Muhammad Sa’ad as a young prince was that of a prince and heir apparent as he did not indulge in stubbornness. He had good relations with his cousins and people, which was a unique quality of his father, Sultan Abubakar III, who was a people’s person and lover of children.

“It is a not easy for me to say exactly how many children the late Sultan Abubakar had as he had many children. The palace was full with children and cousins. When the Sultan was in a playful mood, he used to tease us and ask “Who is your father?” he did that to see whether  the child would be confused because the Sultan was of towering height and was always followed by courtiers and guards,” he said.

It was in this palace, crowded with children and a playful Sultan who ate in the midst of the children, doled out coins to them for break time in school that Muhammad Saad grew up.

As a young man, Prince Muazu said his cousin had several role models. “Later in life while in Kaduna, he adopted the qualities of then Baraden Sokoto and later 18th Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki who had exposure, friends and connections globally. Indeed he can now be said to be two-in-one, with the qualities of the two past sultans. He is a good bridge-builder and amiable sultan,” he said.

In his younger years, the Sultan, 62, was said to be  a lover of horses and football, which he was either playing or watching. But over the years, it is said he has lost his enthusiasm for horse riding.

At 19 he joined the army. It was a decision taken when former Chief of Army Staff, General TY Danjuma phoned Sultan Abubakar III and suggested he enlist some of his children into the armed forces, according to Mu’azu.

Former Chief or Sudan-Wurno and Present Chairman of Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC, Ambassador Shehu Malami accompanied Prince Muhammad Saad and Buhari Abubakar III (the Ciroma of Sokoto) to the Nigeria Defense Academy, Kaduna.

“By then Sa’ad had finished Barewa College. I was working in New Nigerian when I was also invited for the NDA interview. I was called by my “chest number” “191” and was told that I failed the medical test because I had hypertension. But the duo made it.  The late Sultan Abubakar III liked the military and his cousin General Muhammadu (Jega) Iliyasu Bashar (rtd), the present Emir of Gwandu had become an officer already,” Muazu said.

“Sultan Abubakar has foresight, that was why he drilled us when we erred and he cautioned that one must strive hard to be a responsible family man. He used to say or what you may call: no pain, no gain. I believe these words of wisdom made us excel and that was why he endured the fatigue, sleep depression and other stressful things associated with military training even though he was a prince from a royal background. Sa’ad never told me he was disturbed because if he left NDA he knew he could not face his father the Sultan,”Alhaji Muazu said.

at the NDA, he was nicknamed “Sarki-Sarki” probably taking into account his royal background from the ruling house that holds precedence over others.

In his 12 years as Sultan, Alhaji Muazu Alhaji said the achievement of the Sutlan include strengthened the cordial relationship between Muslims and Christians through the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) which he jointly chairs with the President of Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN).

“Sultan Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar is making people to realize that we are not enemies but citizens of Nigeria. He has been honouring events all over the world calling for dialogue and unity in peace which is the panacea for development,” he said.

“The Sultan has many sisters, but most of his male older brothers have died. But I cannot tell whether he is older than Ciroma Buhari or not. The Sultan is relating well with our brothers, far and near. Those in Sudan are the ones that usually visit and delegations from Sokoto visit them regularly as they are all from the lineage of Sheikh Usman Danfodio,” Muazu said.