Farewell to a Yoruba, Muslim Princess

Date: 2020-12-13

I will start with a footnote on the billionaire Bishop, David Bello Oyedepo. He was born a Muslim, named Hasan by his father Bello Oyedepo. His mother was a Christian who converted to Islam when she married Bello. Bello had three other wives. After his higher education, Hasan became David. He instantly became a strong, aggressive and successful Christian activist. With his stupendous wealth, he reverted his mother to Christianity; then his father and brothers; then all except his three stepmothers who stuck to their guns and died Muslims. The last of them -Aasiyat- is the subject matter of this piece.

I set out searching for her in late 2013 when I read about how Bishop Oyedepo allegedly prophesized that she will die a miserably poor woman unless she converts to Christianity, like most other members of his family. Muslims on social media were shocked by the Bishop's utterances.

After reading about her, I set out to meet her in 2013. I visited the headquarters of the Living Faith Church in Iyana Apaja, Lagos. Someone in a nearby mosque told me that the native home of the Oyedepos is in Omuaran, Kwara State. I drove to Ilorin the following morning and arrived Omuaran during Juma'ah congregation. After the prayer, I met the leaders of the mosque, introduced myself and asked about "Bishop Oyedepo's sister who refused to convert to Christianity." They became sceptical and started to interrogate me. They even brought a Fulani herder to confirm that I was indeed Fulani.

Finally, I was handed over to one brother, Bello Saad Bamidele, with whom we drove a short distance before arriving at the Oyedepo family house. Behind the front block was a flat in which a woman in her sixties was living. Bello entered and announced our arrival. After she was ready, I was ushered into her parlour. She was shy, full of smiles, but few words. She spoke only Yoruba; so Bello was very handy at the time and on my subsequent visits to her.

I did not want to open fresh wounds especially giving her shy nature; so I avoided asking her about her relationship with David. Instead, we focussed on Islam. I told her that it saddens other Muslims to learn about the pressure on her to convert to Christianity and salute her resolve to remain Muslim. I expressed the solidarity of other Nigerian Muslims with her and recounted the testimony that God gave about her namesake, the wife of Pharaoh, who kept her faith in the face of difficulties and, before God, became a symbol of faith who prayed to Him for a house in Heaven and rescue from Pharaoh and oppression.

Before I left her that afternoon, I asked Aasiyat if she had a request before the Muslim Ummah. She smiled and dropped her head for a while. Finally, when she gathered the courage to open up, she giraffed and whispered into the ear of Bello, who, having heard her request, shouted Allahu akbar! "What did she say," I enquired, impatiently. He said, "She will love to fulfil her lifetime ambition-a pilgrimage to Mecca." Look! She did not ask for money. Not a house or anything material. But just a spiritual journey. I told her that it was a modest request and we will pray that God grants it.

Alhamdulillah. He did. By the time the Hajj season commenced in 2014, I got in touch with a great sister, Fatima Abolore Jimoh, the then Secretary of the Pilgrims Board in Ilorin. She assured me of a seat and helped a lot to see that things went well. I linked her up with Bello in Omuaran and all arrangement were completed. The scheme nearly got k-legged when Aasiyat's sons and other family members discovered she would travel to Mecca. They started agitating against it but we were faster, alhamdulillah. ? We quickly 'abducted' Aasiyat from Omuaran, shipped her to Ilorin and hid her in a house until her day of departure to the Holy Land. Kudos to Fatima. What a great sister she is!

Aasiyat performed her hajj successfully without any hitch and returned from Mecca a very happy Muslim. She was all smiles when I visited her. She held a ceremony, thanking God for that. The Muslim community of Omuaran continued to support her especially when she fell sick lately. When we spoke last Monday, Saad told me she has recovered from a severe sickness. This morning, he told me that she relapsed and taken to a hospital in Ibadan, where she died last night. The most interesting part was that she was blessed with the Kalimah as her last word. Mashaallah!

And so was the end, here, for her. I salute her resolve to live by her conviction as I saluted the Boko Haram abducted girl-Liya Sharibu-who refused to convert to Islam as demanded by her captors. Aasiyat and the two cowives that died before her chose to remain Muslim. That is the power of conviction. She would have succumbed to the pressure from her two sons-surely the dearest to her heart—both of whom are now pastors, converted to Christianity by Bishop Oyedepo. No. She chose God over man and the Hereafter over the temporary glitters of this world. She died committed to her choice, a symbol of faith and conviction.

Sister Aasiyat Bello Oyedepo, the Princess of Islam, will be buried tomorrow afternoon in her native town of Omuaran. Our sincere condolences go to the Muslim community of Omuaran and Kwara State in general, to all those who anchored her in faith, including Bello and Sister Fatima. Our condolences also to the Oyedepos, including the Bishop David. May he soon revert to Hasan before he leaves the glitters of this world behind. Amin yaa Rabb! ? Nothing is beyond Him. May the Princess of the Faithful, Aasiyat, meet in Heaven the symbols of faith—her namesake and Virgin Mary—where they will together dwell in the gardens and rivers which their Lord promised the righteous:

'Lo! The righteous will dwell among gardens and rivers.

Firmly established in the favour of a Mighty King." (54:54-55)

Dr. Aliyu U. Tilde

Bauchi

13 December 2020

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Moshood Kashimawo Abiola     Kwha.gov.ng     Kwara 2023     Muhammadu Buhari     Olayinka Are     Shehu Adaramaja     Oke-Oyi     Sun Qing Rong     Baboko Primary School     Madawaki     Solomon Edoja     Toyosi Thomas     Amuda Bembe     Tunde Idiagbon Road     Muyiwa Oladipo Kanu     Risikat Lawal     Funmilayo Zubair     Shonga     James Ayeni     Yekini Adio     MATTA Girls Foundation     Baruten     Ilorin East     Abdulrasheed Akogun     Ayeyemi Sulaiman     Makama     Moses Afolayan     Kumbi Titiloye     Assayomo     Olaoye B. Felix     Siraj Oyewale     Kayode Yusuf     Rafiu Ajakaye     Danladi     Mohammed Katsina Ahmed     Atiku Abubakar     FERMA     Obasanjo     Benin Republic     Kuliyan Geri     Sadiq Buhari     Yunus Oniboki     Wole Oke     NYSC     Adewuyi Funmilayo     Jumoke F. Ajao     Kwara State Branch Of The National Library     Mike Omotosho     Metro Park     Abdulahi Abubakar Bata     Isin     Afolabi-Oshatimehin Adenike Harriet     Quarry Royal Valley     Musa Alhassan Buge     Ahmed Dankaya     Mahfouz Adedimeji     Amusa Bello     Ekiti     Kamaldeen Kehinde     Chief Of Staff     Sulaiman Gado     Bayo Onimago     Ijakadi     Mahe Abdulkadir     Abdulraufu Mustapha     Abdulfatah Ahmed     N-Power     Oluronke Adeyemi     Sa\'adu Salahu     ANCOPPS     AbdulHakeem Ajibola Akanbi     Kehinde Baale     Special Agro-industrial Processing Zone     Adamu Attah     Pategi     Yusuf Mubarak     University Road    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Mukhtar Shagaya     April 11     Abdulrazak Shehu Akorede     Umar Bayo Abdulwahab     Oba-Solagberu     Abdulsalam Firdaous Amosa     Oba Sulaiman Asude     SSA Youth Engagement     Oye Tinuoye     Ophthalmological Society Of Nigeria     Raymond Olaitan     Monthly Sanitation Exercise     Saudat Abdulbaqi     Ibrahim Abdullahi     Clara Nwachukwu     Alore     Park     Lukman Oyebanji Fagbemi     Bolakale Saka     Edret Sabi Abel     Doyin Agbamu     Sheu Ndanusa Usman     Sam Onile     Face Masks     Kwara State Branch Of The National Library     Olokoba     Bello Bature     Taofeeq Olateju     Sun Qing Rong     ENetSuD     Abubakar Usman Jos     Kwara State Infrastructure Development Fund     Olufolake Abdulrazaq     Yakubu Danladi     Roheemat Hammed     Alaaya     Ridwan Agboola     Kwara State Printing And Publishing Corporation     Iyaloja-General     Association Of Kwara State Online Media Practitioners     Geri-Alimi Split Diamond Interchange     Okeose Christian Cementary     Kwara North     Abubakar Atiku     Pakata     Adamu Attah     Abdulmumin Yinka Ajia     Isaac Aderemi Kolawole     Olatunji Ayeni     Kwara State Government     Oke-Oyi     Elerinjare     Albert Ogunsola     Amina Susa\'a De Ahmed     Student Learning Support Helpline     Galland Marcias     Oju Ekun Sarumi     Dapo Teni Nig Enterprise     Yusuf Abdulraheem     Razaq Ayobami Akanbi     Yaman     James Kolo     Tunde Kazeem     Olatunde Michaels     Aliyu Muyideen     Rabiu Kwankwaso     Yekini Adio     Ganmo     Jaiz Bank     Kazeem Adekanye     Folashade Omoniyi     Suleiman Yahya Alapansapa     Ndakene     Muslim Stakeholders Of Kwara State     Taofik Abiodun Ahmed     Adamu Atta     Osi