Ahuja Bello Is Back! God Moves in Mysterious Ways!
The Power of Hope, Prayer, and Trust in God
Forty years ago, he was a household name. Ahuja Bello, aka AB, graced events across the land, with scintillating rhythms and memorable dance tracks. Then life took a different turn. A car crash brought everything to a halt in 1982, for Ahuja.
Ahuja was at death’s door; his family was at his bedside. Would he live? Would he die? His children, his family, prayed, begged God, for him just to live. It mattered not whether the superstar would ever again grace the stage. “Please God, let him live.” was the plea; “Ariya” was out of the question.
The world heard the news. The world felt for him. The world waited for him; but the world does not wait forever. One year; two years; five years; 10 years; 15 years; 20 years; 30 years; several come back attempts came to nothing.
Another accident set him back; then the world moved on. That’s life. That’s just the way it is. Some even said “Good night, Ahuja, Rest in Peace”, when they heard no more of Ahuja Bello.
The challenge of battling through the storms of life took over. It seemed the party was truly over. Forty years in the wilderness, and no news of Ahuja, who could blame the world?
Yet, with every passing day, the rebirth, relaunch, the announcement of the voice that many mourned, the voice many believed they would never again hear, inched closer and closer. But it called for the courage to triumph over extreme adversity. It called for much more; FAITH over fear and Ahuja stood strong.
It has taken forty years, yes, forty years! But Ahuja Bello is BACK!
The power of hope and unshakeable faith in God; a testimony that no matter what may come ones way, God in His goodness, kindness, and mercy is always there, will answer our prayer, and lead us from darkness into light. It is testimony that, no matter how dark the night, in our lives, the sun will always rise and shine.
Baba Ahuja is back with his memoir, Ariya Ti De. Teaming up with the brilliant, exciting, and multi-talented, young singer, songwriter and saxophonist, Seun Ajikorin and his Peculiar Crew. Ahuja Bello is back with a BANG. His new single, “Ijo Ahuja”, is out, with a new CD to follow. The beat goes on. Ahuja Bello is BACK and we are excited to be part of the story.
How could it be? How did it happen? Well, God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
Humans Propose, God Disposes
When the British Government put together a funding package for Community Development in Africa, they were not thinking of Ahuja Bello. When the British Council, as a result, got the go ahead to commission a training workshop for community volunteers in Nigeria, it had nothing to do with Ahuja Bello, as far as they were concerned. But they are not all seeing and all knowing. God is.
While all this was going on, Ahuja Bello was at home still wondering when, after 40 years in the wilderness, he would get the break he had been hoping and praying for. However, he remained unshakeable in his faith, trusting in God and not questioning the purpose of God’s ways.
Then Corona virus struck, scattering everybody’s plans and putting the entertainment industry on its knees. At the time, Development Consultant, Dele Sonubi, had finalised plans and was getting ready to jet off to Thailand for an assignment. Covid19 scattered his plans, too. But actually, God had other plans for him. A case of “not my will, thy will be done.”
Dele Sonubi takes up the story, from here.
As he puts it, when I mentioned the name Ahuja to some of my friends that I knew would know him, each response was, “I thought he was dead.” It was the same story everywhere. Most people thought or believed Ahuja Bello was dead. Some even audaciously argued this on platforms like Youtube where his previous hits played on to bless us with the legacy of his voice and music. But how can anyone not be dead yet be so out of the public glare he was synonymous with. An active, talented and illustrious musician vacates the musical scene, at the peak of his career and disappears unannounced for 40 years. How can anyone still hope to hear the soundtrack from the graves after so long?
The Yorùbá proverb says, “Teni ku, lo tan” and so, “B'aoku, ise o tan”. When God is ready to shine His glory on anyone, He activates every necessary object and subject, even raising a stone if necessary, to achieve His goals.
I start my testimony from the point of the value of “giving”.
Ahuja’s wife, Mrs. Bello, volunteers her time and meagre resources to join a community-based women association to support widows and girls in the community. I was on my way back to Asia where I used to work but, but I was locked down in Lagos by covid19. Divine providence made British Council offer me a contract for a coaching programme in Lagos to coach and conduct development skill support for community-based organisations. Koloba & Lala Women Development Association in Ayobo Lagos was one of the selected. I thus met Mrs. Bello during this process and we became well acquainted.
She was an early comer; I was showing women leadership by example by arriving first. One day, I was humming an old song I remembered from the 80s and she asked if I was a fan and I said, of course; that was the period when music made sense. She asked if I love the tune of Ahuja. Of course I do! I was one of his fans. My response created a glow in her eyes that prompted me to ask further questions. When she confirmed to my shock that Mr. Àhújà is her husband, I was thrilled. She wanted me to meet him right away. I was in such awe of meeting a hero that I requested that if indeed he is her husband, she should formally book an appointment.
For years, I have nurtured a wish to help some of our heroes debrief their life-long journeys for posterity. I never moved a muscle to engage that wish. But this was an opportunity to start. Her approval of my request to schedule an appointment was thus the beginning of a journey towards the request to write his memoir. The desire to meet him became a reality when I met him in company of my wife at his home.
This was how, while sitting at home, a miracle landed on the lap for the good old man. I financed all the expenses, hotel accommodation, feeding, transportation, I was excited to do the much I did because God provided all that I needed to embark on the process that made a lifelong desire a reality. It took nearly a year to complete.
Finally, the memoir was ready and I took it to Ahuja as a gift. He could do whatever he wanted with it. What was needed to complete the process was printing and public launching of the memoir. The presence of covid made calling for a book launch practically impossible at that time.
By divine providence, a friend and an uncle in England heard of Ahuja, his accidents, the story of meeting his wife, meeting him, unpublished memoir and volunteered to give me the money to print the book as an added gift for him. We would return the money, only if we recouped funds at the public presentation.
As we continued to map out plans, the decision to publish the memoir and to take Mr. Ahuja to the studio to produce new songs, with which we can build media hype around him, his music, his memoir and his new style came to the fore. It was well received as a perfect plan to shout out loud, AHUJA IS BACK!
As I type this testimony of trial to triumph, and within a space of two months, these goals have been achieved. There was no longer any need for public presentation, the publication of the memoir had been converted to a gift. Radio stations are already playing Ahuja’s new song and his memoir is already going around. Indeed, b’aoku, ise o tan!
On the virtuous woman and the hand of God.
Let me step back a little to touch on the virtuous wife, who chose to in spite of the challenges, live a life with purpose - serving her family, and her community, with a willing heart and diligently. She could have elected to be slothful or live in the euphoria of past glory, rather she sought to serve and set out very early, for a community workshop a foreign government had paid for, in the impoverished community life's crisis positioned her in.
Committed to bringing joy, not just to the lives of members of her family, but to the lives of members of her community, she set out in the Godly way of devoutly using the priceless resource of time and energy in the service of others, friends, and strangers who need a helping hand. In choosing the path of righteousness, she opened our eyes to the possibilities of God's mysterious ways, His wonders to perform and how all we need is to trust and obey, regardless of what we are going through.
Ayandele Bello, who came to be known as Ahuja Bello, her husband was once the toast of society. A terrible car crash left him hanging on to threads but wiped his name off society’s notice board and lips of pop culture. The legendary Ahuja Bello had become “Ahuja who…?”
She had married him, in faith, not at the height of his glory, but when fate had dealt him one of the humbling blows of life and left him on the canvas, holding on for dear life.
Rather than grumble, “Who am I to question God; in all things give thanks” was her approach to all that greeted her in a choice of a mate. Despite her situation and her family’s travails, she served others with love and kindness. She believed in stewardship. She believed when others have been kind enough to invest in you, your community and your people, you should show appreciation for their investment, help them to justify their investment, and be a worthy steward of that investment, through behaviour and attitude towards the investment.
So it was that she managed her time wisely, everyday, like the Proverbs 31 woman, to ensure she was up early and arrived at the workshop for volunteers, of which she was one, which the British Government had paid for and delivered through the British Council, for the benefit of her community. She cared about the physical, mental, and psychological health and wellbeing of not only her family, but the people in her community. She was, therefore, committed to taking full advantage of the training to help in her own little way, to advance the wellbeing of the people in her community.
So it was that God revealed himself, in all His glory, to her, her family, and her husband, who till then, had been 40 years in the wilderness.
The Moral of the Story
When God is ready to uplift anyone, He would use anyone necessary to achieve the feat. You thus never know where, when, or how He would pull the straws of His miracle. The important thing is to keep doing good and supporting whoever you can. God notices. It is not over until God says it is over.
40 years in the wilderness and Àhújà is steaming hot and already ready to return to musical scene he mastered so well; a mastery that remains in his heart and voice. It is human to say, I’M FINISHED; it is up to God to say WELCOME. If God has not closed the chapter of your life, never say never because when there is still hope, there is still a possibility to bounce back. Never lose faith.
If Mrs. Bello had not volunteered to help others, I would not have been privileged to kick-start the re-launching of her husband's musical gifts. “Eni ba so oko soja, ara ile eni ni kan.” In the same token, “Eni s’ore, ara re lo se fun.” He who throws stone in the market, throws it at a relation. He who is kind, is kind to self.
In the words of the maestro, Ahuja Bello, himself:
“My period of crisis eventually led me to Jesus Christ. I started worshipping God who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. I learnt how not to depend on man because man will fail; he is fallible. I have learnt how to accept that Jesus offers a friendship that is eternal, long lasting and will never abandon me despite my shortcomings. As the world progresses, we all cannot fold our arms and assume that the work of building society is up to politicians alone. There is work to be done; I have also identified roles. The youths and new musicians coming after us need mentors and mentorship opportunities. Somebody has to teach these young ones as our elders taught us when we were younger. This is why I continue to say we are still relevant. Our words of wisdom, our memoir and our songs are still here to transmit our culture from one generation to the other and to remind the youths of our values and teach future gene rations about what we did when we had the microphone in our hands and raised it to our mouth. If God be with us, and God is always with us, all things are possible. Don’t give up, whatever you are trying to achieve, whatever setbacks you encounter, whatever anybody says: It is possible.”
Story and Memoir: Dele Sonubi
Music: Aba Joni + Sola Ogunsola
For information on 80th Celebration of Ahuja: 0812 014 6178
To listen to Ahuja’s new single, Ijo Ahuja, click link
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