It is because I am a man of destiny. I first knew of this in 1954 through my mother when I was about nine – and – a – half years old and I trekked from Ile – Ife to Ede. I was going to Osogbo which was 51.499 kilometres (32 miles) from Ile – Ife. I was then staying with an Ado – Akure (Benin – Akure – born) school teacher who was brutal in disciplining the two of us living with him. As a result, I left the church service on a Sunday morning for Osogbo where my parents were. It was when I got to Ede about 14.4841 kilometres (9 miles) to Osogbo about 6pm that a former chauffer of my dad who was driving a commercial lorry saw me and took me home.
When my mom heard I walked from Ile – Ife to Ede she said I escaped kidnapping because when I was in her womb a cleric told her I was an anointed child of God with a great future. The Heavenly Father himself confirmed this to me in April 1999. This was when He sent me to General Abdulsalami Abubakar who was then Nigeria’s military Head of State and the last so far.
I was told to go and tell him to get the Chief Imams in the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) and the 36 states’ capital to organize 41 Muslim clerics to fast and pray for seven days for the well – being of the country after handing over power to President – elect General Olusegun Obasanjo in six weeks, on Saturday, May 29.
My reply when the Lord finished was to recommend that He should send either the Chief Imam in Abuja, Sokoto or Minna to him, because those were the people Abubakar would listen to. His reply was: Adesina, who are you to tell me who to send to Abubakar. He then repeated what He told Jeremiah, a prophet in Israel in the latter part of the seventh century and the first part of the sixth century B.C (Before Christ).
This was: “I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were born I selected you to be a prophet to the nations.” The Most High therefore gave me seven days to get His message across to General Abubakar unfailingly or be ready to face the consequences. I complied and did so through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Mohammed Haruna.
But before going into the story of why the Majesty on High discusses issues in the Scriptures with me, I first have to thank Him for making me to be alive today, which is my 75th birth anniversary. I was born this day in 1944, which was a Monday, at the General Hospital in Osogbo, Osun Province now the capital of Osun State.
As stated in this column on September 10, 2014 when I celebrated my 70th birthday, I am the first male septuagenarian in our nuclear family. My father, High Chief Josiah Orisabinu (Orisakobinu in standard Yoruba) Adedipe IV (Monday, December 5, 1904 – Wednesday, February 23, 1972), the 13th Elemo of Akure (1959 – 72), went to glory at the age of 67 years, two months and three weeks (21 days).
This is the ninth occasion September 4 will come up on a Wednesday since I was born in 1944. These were in 1946, 1963, 1968, 1974, 1985, 1999, 1996, 2002 and 2013. This means this is the second time September 4 will be on a Wednesday since this column commenced on December 19, 2007.
This may also be the last time my PABULUM will come up on a September 4 Wednesday, because the next one will be in five years, in 2024, when I will be 80. After this, the next one will be in 2030, then 2041 and 2047. If I am alive in 2024, I am not sure I will still be writing this column.
To be continued next week
South–East governors banning herdsmen
I find it extremely ridiculous reading it in some newspaper and hearing on the radio that Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and Dr. Junaid Mohammed, a Second Republic member of the House of Representatives, could say that the Governors in the five states in the South – East have no power to ban herdsmen from their region. But this is only true if their state legislators have not passed a law banning herdsmen in their region. The President of Nigeria too cannot do so in the country if there is no law to that effect.
Once their state legislators had promulgated a law prohibiting cow-grazing in their territories the governors have a right to carry out such a step. The herdsmen southerners do not want to operate in the three zones in their region are those who go about with AK – 47 rifles and other dangerous weapons.
Have the Governors of Katsina and Benue States in the North not banned open grazing by gun – wielding herdsmen in their territories? So, why can’t the governors in the South do so. Some State Governors in the South – West and South – South have also banned them or threaten to do so.
Why then are some northern leaders saying that their colleagues in the South – East cannot do so? How can anyone say that criminal herdsmen carrying guns killing people and destroying their properties should not be punished or banned?
The spokesmen in the presidency and some northern leaders have claimed that the herdsmen causing trouble in the South are from the Republics of Niger, Chad, Mali (the Bororos), and Libya, who are people from other countries. Is that not a reason why the Federal Government should take steps to get them out of Nigeria?
The protocol of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) allows citizens of each country to have free movement in member states, but not criminals. Let alone those murdering innocent people, destroying properties and laying farmlands waste.
The fact of the matter is that the thinking in the South is that people feel President Buhari or some other Fulani leaders in the North invited their tribesmen outside the country to invade our fatherland. This is in order to take – over the South and turn the region into a Fulani caliphate and Islamize the people.
More to come next week