Remembering Muhammadu Maccido, Sultan Of Sokoto Who Died With His Son And Grandson In A Plane Crash

The Sultan of Sokoto has been a ceremonial position since British rule as the Sultan is considered the spiritual leader of the Muslim community in Nigeria.

The Sultan of Sokoto is the number one spiritual leader of Nigeria’s large Muslim community and he gains this position by lineage

He is reverenced by the Fulani and Hausa people from northern Nigeria.

Shaihu Usman dan Fodio who happens to be the founder of the dynasty of Sokoto State and of the Fulani Empire never used the high style of Sultan of Sokoto.

His son however, was the first to do so and was simply titled Amir al-Mu´minin, which meant ‘Governor of the believers’.

The sultan of Sokoto is the leader of the Qadiriyya sufi order, historically the most important Muslim position in Nigeria and senior to the Emir of Kano, the leader of the less populous Tijaniyya sufi order.

Sultans of Sokoto can also be referred to as “King of the Muslims” as this takes after the Arabic style of Caliphs and other independent sovereign Muslim rulers that claim legitimacy from a community of Muslims.

The current Sultan of Sokoto is Sultan Muhammadu Sa’adu Abubakar III and he is the 20th Sultan of Sokoto.

As Sultan of Sokoto, he is considered the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s 85.5 million Muslims, who account for roughly 50 percent of the nation’s population.

This Article focuses on his Predecessor, Late Muhammadu Maccido who died alongside his son and grandson in a plane crash in 2006.

Before we go into details of his death, let us briefly take a look at his biography.

Muhammadu Maccido was born on 20th April 1928 on the outskirts of the city of Sokoto in the town of Dange Shuni.

Maccido was one of the few children born to Sultan Siddiq Abubakar III before Abubakar became the Sultan of Sokoto in 1938.

Muhammadu was born to Abubakar’s first wife Hauwa, he was given the additional name Maccido which means slave in other to try ward off bad luck.

Although Abubakar only had two children before he became Sultan, he proceeded to have 53 more children afterwards.

Muhammadu Maccido was very present in Abubakar’s court while growing up and his father’s system of leadership had significant impacts on Maccido’s eventual reign as Sultan.

Maccido had his basic education at the college in Zaria before studying in 1952-1953 at South Devon College in Great Britain.

At the end of his tertiary education, Maccido became active in various political roles and in 1951, Maccido became a member of the House of Assembly in Kaduna ruling the Sokoto Native Authority.

In the 1959 elections. Muhammadu Maccido was dispatched to the communities to serve as the representative for the Sokoto Emirate in trying to reduce the tension. He held various posts in the Sokoto Native Authority in the 1950s including Councilor of Works (1956), Councilor for Rural Development (1959), and Councilor for Agriculture (1960).

Thereafter Muhammadu Maccido was made a North Western State Executive Council Commissioner and worked in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Health.

During the Presidency of Shehu Shagari he served as the presidential liaison officer between the Sokoto Emirate and the Nigerian head of state for many years.

Maccindo’s Father Abubakar III died on 1 November 1988 while Ibrahim Babangida was the head of state.

As was traditional in the Sokoto religious structure, the electors of the various emirates undertook the issue and selected Maccido as the new Sultan on 3rd November 1988.

However, on 6th November, the military government of Ibrahim Babangida decided that Ibrahim Dasuki, who had challenged Maccido for the position and was a prominent business associate of Babangida, would become the new Sultan of Sokoto.

Violence afterwards erupted in Sokoto and the parts of northern Nigeria with supporters of Maccido actively protesting the use of military might in emirate matters.

Maccido who was exiled to South Africa and returned after Babangida’s reign did not support or push any movement against Dasuki.

He encouraged his supporters to not associate with Dasuki’s rule and remain separate.

After a while Life grew financially difficult for Maccido and his residence began to become unmaintained.

Many of the Muslims in northern Nigeria opposed Dasuki’s rule and were not happy with his reign, a long list of complaints including that Dasuki had destroyed the house of Muhammed Bello, the second Sultan, to make renovations to the palace complex were reasons why they wanted a change.

Maccido had started importing goods and selling the goods to local businesses, just before he became sultan.

Ibrahim Dasuki was removed from the position by military head of state, Sani Abacha on 19th April 1996.

Without going through the traditional Sokoto system of selection, Abacha named Maccido the new Sultan and he was coronated on 21th April 1996 in the Sultan Bello Mosque.

As Sultan, he became the spiritual leader to Nigeria’s Islamic community and head of the Sokoto Emirate for ten years before his death.

Nigeria, and the Muslim community at large were thrown into deep mourning on October 28th 2006 when a passenger aircraft belonging to the Aviation Development Company (ADC) crashed shortly after take-off from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Of the 100 passengers and five crew members on board, only five persons were reported to have survived the crash.

Here are photos from the crash site.

The dead included the Sultan of Sokoto and President General of Nigeria’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido and Badamasi Maccido, who was also the Sultan’s son.

Badamasi’s son who happens to be the Sultan’s grandson died as well.

One of the Sultan’s sons survived the plane crash and lives to this day.

Maccido’s body was not burnt although the plane had caught fire in the air and this helped in making positive identification easy.

His body was led through the streets of Sokoto with tens of thousand of mourners gathered. He was buried in the main tomb of the sultans of Sokoto close to that of his father.

He forever continues to live in our hearts as a true hero, Legend and father of the Muslim faith……S££ MOR£