Chapter Twenty-Five: The Trial

The trial was held in a hall in the Lamido's palace, where he receives his guests. All the Lamdos and district chiefs of Fombina, including Lamdo Salli, attended. However, the Waziri was conspicuously absent. Only kings were invited to the event.

The grand hall was rearranged to accommodate the important guests that came for the event. Usually, there was only one throne on which the Lamido sat, while everyone else sat on the carpet lining the floor, except if another king of equal importance was in attendance, then a smaller throne would be brought in for him as a mark of respect and a subtle reminder that he was in the presence of the Lamido. But for this event, thirty such thrones were arranged in a circular pattern around the room with a Lamdo or chief sitting on each one. The Lamido was sitting on his lofty throne.

Hayah was brought out of his cell and made to sit on the floor in the middle, a move meant to demean him and lower his spirits. He looked haggard, dirty, and unwashed, probably starved too.

“Hayah Ibn Sa'id Ibn Abdullah Ibn Uthman, you have been brought here in the presence of the Lamido and all the rulers of Fombina to answer for your crime of treason," the Lamdo of Maroua read from a scroll. "You have been found guilty of consorting with a known rebel, Rabbeh. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

Hayah remained silent.

“In the past few months, it has come to our attention that you have been deceiving the indigenous tribes with your teachings and preaching, convincing them that you are a saint sent here to save them, while tricking them into pledging allegiance to you. Furthermore, you have forged an alliance with a rebel. What is your defense?”

Hayah was quiet.

“We asked you a question, answer it!” the Lamido of Yola commanded him.

“I am only a humble Imam and a loyal soldier,” Hayah began speaking. “I have served with distinction under Lamdo Garei of Maroua as his loyal servant, responsible for Balda, and as the general of his army for years, and he never had any problem with me. After his death, Lamdo Salli significantly reduced my official duties in the general scheme of things, and so I went back to my original calling, which is spreading the word of Islam to people through preaching. I never deceived anyone. I only preached the truth. People came to me on their own accord, and I never forced anyone to follow me.”

“What about your meeting with Rabbeh?” Lamdo Salli asked him. “Everyone knows that he is a rebel and a destroyer of kingdoms…”

“My meeting with Rabbeh is none of your business,” Hayah cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

For a moment, there was a collective gasp at his audacity; it was as if time stopped. Before anyone could say anything, he continued.

“I do not answer to any of you. I am the great-grandson of Usman the Great, how dare you treat me this way? I served both Lamido Sanda and Lamdo Garei because I wanted to, because they treated me with the respect I deserved and not because I had to. You may think that you have the support of my brother Umar, but I promise you, that if you lay a finger on me, you will suffer the wrath of the Sultan.”

He shot a defiant look at Lamido Zubbairu of Yola and continued,

“Do not confuse the rivalry of siblings for enmity. Blood is thicker than water. We have been raised to look out for each other, no matter the situation. And if by some unfortunate coincidence, my brother did not avenge me, I have ensured that Rabbeh will. You know the kind of man he is. His soldiers are mercenaries; they don't adhere to the rules of war. They will not only kill everybody in their path but will destroy your lands and rape your women. You call it treason; I call it 'self-preservation'. After I learned of Lamdo Salli's intentions to get rid of me, I struck a deal with Rabbeh to make sure he will avenge my death. So, go ahead, kill me, I promise you will regret it!”

Silence. Shock. Surprise.

Terror fell on that room. You could hear a pin drop after he was done. No one had expected such a response from him. Much more a threat. They were scared stiff! They all knew what Rabbeh was capable of, and if what he said was true, then no one wanted to be involved with his sentence or execution, lest Rabbeh come after them with his monsters.

After a long, uncomfortable silence, Lamdo Katsina got up to excuse himself and said,

“May God never permit me to see the day I will take up arms against the great-grandson of Usman the Great, never!”

And left.

As if pre-arranged, one after the other, the Lamdos and chiefs in attendance excused themselves from the hearing until only five were left. Lamdo Salli could not believe his eyes. He tried to convince them to change their minds, but they wouldn't. Lamido Zubbairu had no choice but to declare a mistrial and send Hayah into exile instead.

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Ten of his faithful soldiers were waiting outside the palace for him with a horse and supplies. As soon as Hayah left the Palace of Yola, he went straight to Balda and organized a large prayer meeting in the mosque. Hundreds of faithful Muharib followers attended. After the prayers and almsgiving, he declared himself the new Lamido of Fombina. No one objected. Then he instructed them to go home and prepare for war because Lamido Zubbairu would soon launch an attack against them.

He then went home and stationed guards over his house, which was to serve as his palace in the interim; he also placed sentries and valiant soldiers on the borders of Balda to fortify the town in total disregard of the Lamido's sentence to exile him.

Since Lamdo Salli had been playing dirty, it was time to fight fire with fire, he said to himself. After that, he secretly traveled to Baghirmi to finalize his deal with Rabbeh.

A small wedding ceremony was quickly held in the camp between him and Rabbeh's only daughter, Hauwa. The marriage served as proof of loyalty and alliance between both Hayah and Rabbeh. After that, Rabbeh transferred command of an army of two thousand mercenaries to him, and they marched back to Balda to help him fight his war against Lamido Zubbairu.

He returned to Balda exuding the confidence of a man backed by two thousand well-trained mercenaries, ready for war. They camped at Bogo, a small town very close to Balda, where he made a passionate plea to his followers to provision them graciously. And they did.

News of this got to Lamdo Salli, who informed the Lamido and received permission to declare war against Hayah. His fears and warnings had become a reality. Hayah, like cancer, had grown from a small cyst to a large wound that was threatening to eat up the whole political fabric of Fombina. They should have gotten rid of him much earlier. Now, he had become a real threat.

The Waziri was nowhere to be found. “That treacherous bastard!” Lamdo Salli raged. If he gets his hands on him, he will kill him. But right now, he had bigger fish to fry. Hayah had about two thousand, two hundred soldiers in his army, including the mercenaries he had just acquired. If he were to fight him and win, there was a need to match him man for man or even to surpass his forces.

He contacted the remaining Lamdos, those hateful of Hayah like Lamdo Mindif, who pledged five hundred warriors, Lamido Zubbairu, two thousand five hundred. The other three Lamdos pledged four hundred and fifty men. When added to his own seven hundred men, he arrived at a total of four thousand, one hundred and fifty men.

He then spent the next month strategizing on how best to attack Balda, which had now become an impenetrable fort. Great care was taken to conceal the true number of soldiers at his disposal in order to take the enemy by surprise. The soldiers were ordered to be on standby in their various towns until summoned. This was more advantageous in terms of secrecy and provisioning for them. They all agreed.

He divided his men into three units. The plan was for the first unit, consisting of one thousand five hundred men, to attack Balda head-on, while the second unit of one thousand men was to launch a surprise attack from behind enemy lines as soon as the battle commenced. Then, when the enemy was tiring and weary, the last unit of one thousand, one hundred and fifty men would fall on them and annihilate them completely. The other five hundred men that Lamdo Mindif pledged would be on standby to finish off anyone trying to escape. However, what he did not know was that there was an informant in their midst who relayed everything to Hayah.

Hayah also had more men than he had led them to believe. Everyone knew about the two thousand soldiers that Rabbeh released to him, but what they didn't know was that deep into the night, Rabbeh himself came quietly into Balda with another two thousand men, swelling the ranks to four thousand men. In addition to that, Hayah had secretly trained about eight hundred of able-bodied young men among his followers and gave them the dusty brown uniform and black turbans of the Muharib soldiers, thereby bringing the total number of his army to four thousand and eight hundred men. He was more than ready.

[End of Chapter Twenty-Five]