By OLALERE FAGBOLA
“Call no man fortunate (or unfortunate) until you see the end of his life,” so goes a much treasured adage that I cherish.
I must confess that I don’t seem to like this Obasanjo/Olubadan Media (Devil’s advocate) hype being bandied from lips to lips like cats in chorus.
When it comes to longevity and destiny, (as different writeups on the new Olubadan and Chief Obasanjo are wilfully portraying them) let no man speak authoritatively on such exclusive terrain of the Almighty God.
Let me whisper something about God.
Ba mi na omo mi ko de’nu Olorun (Help me beat my child does not come from the bottom of God’s heart). When a man is caught in sinful acts, God looks for intercessors who would canvass forgiveness for him, but if rather than finding one, all He sees are a bunch of mockers and crucifiers, goading God for revenge, His anger may go the opposite direction.
Here comes the reason and spirit of why King David was a man after God’s own heart. King Saul haunted him from one pillar to another, seeking to eliminate him. Even though David had all the chances in the world to kill King Saul and play an opportunist in view of the vulnerability that dogged each step being taken by desperate Saul, he refused to do so. When King Saul however committed suicide, someone played a false tale bearer, hoping to curry undue favour from David as he feigned himself as the murderer of Saul.
READ ALSO: Gateway Airport: Lifting of passengers commences October
Hear him: …As I happened by chance upon mount Gil- boa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.
And when he looked unto me: and I answered him, I am an Amalekite.
And he said unto me again, stand, I pray thee, upon me and slay me: for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me.
So I stood upon him, and slew him because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: I took the crown that was upon his head and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord.”
Instead of receiving approval and unmerited favour from King David, he was ordered to be executed.
Hear David’s verdict: “How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”
And David called one of the young men and said, Go near and fall upon him. And he smote him that he died.
” …Thy blood be upon thy head: for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying I have slain the Lord’s anointed.”(11 Samuel 1: 6- 16 )
Just one week to the Coronation of Oba Senator Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, I had a clear vision in which I behold, standing before me, the Late Oba Akinyele whose good record as Olubadan of Ibadan has not been broken till now. The interpretation of the dream is that the new Olubadan of Ibadan, His Royal Majesty, Oba Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja would do well to follow the footsteps of Oba Akinyele. His period witnessed great and unbeatable achievements and it is within the capacity and God-given wisdom available to the new Olubadan to excel and beat the record.
I pray that God shall grant the new Olubadan of Ibadan, the wisdom to be a king after God’s own heart. Amen.
Am I a judge in this matter? Far from it. I am a Writing Prophet.
“The Prophet does not invoke timeless abstractions but echoes the voice of God imploring the wayward to turn back. What may appear to be words of doom in Biblical prophecy are actually exhortation to repentance.”
In doing my duty as a Writing Prophet, I neither beg for favour nor hatred of anyone in this regard, but just following through as it’s been dictated to me.
“I soon found out that it is not by wisdom that poets create their works, but by a certain natural power and by inspiration, like prophets, who say many things but who understand nothing of what they say.”
Barely one month to the period General Olusegun Obasanjo was whisked away from his farm by the Abacha junta, I sent through one of our Cameramen in the Sunday Punch (Olasupo) to book an appointment for an exclusive interview with him and sent to him a copy of my bestseller journalism textbook: “Journalists And The Hand of God” which treated journalistic hazards in all its ramifications. Ironically, it was preparing him a-head of the harassment awaiting him.
When it was a risky business calling on General Sani Abacha to release Obasanjo from detention, I was led by the Spirit of God to Ijebu-Ife and I interviewed, Chief Kolawole Mamora, the college tutor of Obasanjo, MKO Abiola and Oba Sikiru Adetona among other notable men and women whom the “Merry Chief ” taught during his 40 years as an educationist.
During this historic interview which turned out to be highly prophetic, Chief Mamora who had just disembarked from trance gave seven commandments to Abacha to obey and implement lest he faced the music. One of the commandments included the release of Obasanjo, Abiola and other political detainees. (Punch newspaper of August, 16,1997).
When the security service men invaded his home at Ijebu-Ife asking him to deny it so that they could get at me, Merry Chief stood by his gun.
(His many archival correspondences to me are contained in my new book due for outing soon)
Just last Friday when the new Olubadan of Ibadan was being crowned, I was at Ibadan interviewing one of the tutors who taught Oba Rashidi Ladoja in his college days.
(Readers curiosity on what his tutor reveals shall be unsatisfied for now until unzipped through the media soonest).
The race is not always to the swiftest but time or chance dictates it all.
When the Lord asked me through my prophetic magazine The Watchman in 2006 to tell Governor Rashidi Ladoja to avoid second term trap, I did not mince word communicating it at the back page of the magazine. It was this same edition that God mandated me to warn Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was then the President not to dare a third term in office. It was openly displayed on the front page of The Watchman (prophetic) Magazine.
I pray that God shall grant the new Olubadan of Ibadan, the wisdom to be a king after God’s own heart. Amen.
Just thinking aloud.
