Adewale Mudima

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Adewale Mudima
أديوالي موديما
File:Adewale Mudima 2.png
1st President of Onza
In office
26 January 1940 – 1 January 1950
Vice PresidentAsha Tariro
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byNazir Karrnison
President of the Democratic People's Republic of Onza
In office
14 March 1921 – 26 January 1940
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byHimself as President of the United Democratic Emirates of Onza
National Assemblyman (DPRO)
In office
1 January 1921 – 14 March 1921
Preceded byKatleho Boulos
Succeeded byWasswa Tamandani
Personal details
Born4 May 1903
Akhmis, Onza
Died22 November 1991
Akhmis, Onza
NationalityOnzaian
Political partyDemocratic Socialist Party
SpouseRuba Mudima
Children4, including Zahrah and Xaria
Alma materUniversity of Akhmis
OccupationPolitician
SignatureAdewale Mudima's signature

Adewale Onyekachukwu Mudima (4 May 1903 - 22 November 1991) was the 1st President of Onza, the 1st and only President of the Democratic People's Republic of Onza, and a National Assemblyman of the DPRO.

Mudima was born in the then-fledgling city of Akhmis in 1903 to a sugarcane farmer and a nurse. Mudima attended the University of Akhmis at age 13 after dropping out of high school and studied Newreyan. After leaving the University at 15, Mudima worked for the Akhmis Sentinel delivering papers. He became politically active at age 16 and became the de facto organizer for Akhmis' Midnight Riots before becoming a member of the DPRO's National Assembly in 1921. Three months into his term, Mudima led a violent charge to usurp then-Pharaoh Faraj El-Ghazzawy after rumors circulated that El-Ghazzawy had begun preparing to execute opposing politicians. Mudima declared himself President of the DPRO and made a series of promises to the Onzaian people of various restrictions he would respect.

Mudima's uprising left supporters of the monarchy and El-Ghazzawy angered, and many refused to recognize the legitimacy of Mudima's claim to power, noting that the title "President" had never been used before in Onzaian history and thus had no meaning. Mudima ordered military operations against his opponents for the next decade -- many of whom had already migrated to the western side of the Kalakoro River. Mudima commanded the DPRO's armed forces during the Civil War that ensued, successfully defeating the People's Liberation Army and reunifying Onza in 1939. Mudima was elected as the United Democratic Emirates' first President in 1940.

Although Mudima is widely revered and is honored in numerous landmarks and buildings around the nation, his historical legacy is somewhat mixed, with some decrying the tactics he used to become the DPRO's President, his 10 year term as President of the UDE, and a few incidences during the Civil War.

Early life and career

Mudima was born on 4 May 1903. While attending grade school, Mudima worked with his father on his sugarcane farm, which he later cited as his inspiration to advocate for the blue-collar working class. His mother was a nurse at one of the only hospitals in Akhmis at the time, and established a reputation as one of the most qualified nurses in the facility. He advanced through primary school without incident, but like many others at the time, elected not to finish high school. Mudima enrolled at the University of Akhmis later that year at age 13 -- again, something that was common for the time period -- and studied Newreyan for two years before graduating in 1918.

Mudima then got a job delivering newspapers for the Akhmis Sentinel. In his autobiography, Mudima said that the job gave him a unique opportunity to meet people who all hailed from very different circumstances. Mudima cites this as his inspiration to join the ongoing Midnight Riots at the time. By 1919, Mudima had become the de facto organizer for the riots in Akhmis, which connected him to many sympathetic members of Congress. In 1920, Mudima successfully secured a seat in the National Assembly representing Akhmis.

He met and married his wife, Ruba Mudima, while running the campaign.

Political Career

National Assemblyman

Mudima's tenure as a National Assemblyman was very short lived. Still, in the three months that he inhabited the office, he delivered at least three passionate speeches to the Assembly calling for the decentralization of power from the monarch, as well as a host of other issues relating to poverty and working conditions. Mudima's speeches were cheered wildly from supporters within the newly-formed Democratic Socialist Party as well as from the ranks of many in the Liberal Party. Inversely, he was despised by the Conservative Party, which at this point the Pharaoh, Faraj El-Ghazzawy hailed from.

President of the DPRO

On March 1, 1921, Mudima met with several loyal staffers and a few allied Assemblymen. Also among this group was his wife, Ruba, and Dem Soc star Senator Asha Tariro. The meeting was held to discuss a rumor that had been circulating that El-Ghazzawy was preparing to order the execution of dissenting Senators and Assemblymen. The rumor apparently was talked up to applying the supposedly-incoming executions to all non-Conservative politicians. While Mudima and the others were initially hesitant to respond, a rumor that El-Ghazzawy had briefed some of his royal guard on the plan galvanized another meeting among the group where they decided to depose the Pharaoh.

The group gathered a few more members and gathered firearms from the homes of trusted allies and among themselves. The group then, in a daring move, raided El-Ghazzawy's palace in Andromeda (modern day Kunta) and captured him. Surprisingly, the raid only led to the injury of a few and the death of none. The group then forced El-Ghazzawy to resign, and just hours afterwards the group decided to allow Mudima to declare himself President.

In a public announcement that was embellished by many newspapers the next day, Mudima laid out a legislative agenda of a sort and specified that he would grant specific powers to the Congress and the courts that he would refrain from interfering with. This is considered the precursor to the modern powers of the President outlined in the Constitution.

In the years that followed immediately, resistance to Mudima's power grab became increasingly hostile, particularly in the western regions of the nation where pantheism remained somewhat prominent. Mudima often preemptively quashed these resistances by dispatching military forces to arrest the participants. However, in 1932, Ade Kato -- a former Conservative politician -- formed a sizable resistance force known as the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and declared war on Mudima's government.

Mudima led the DPRO effectively and quashed the ensuing Civil War, but not without leaving the nation war-torn and on the verge of collapse. Mudima worked alongside the remaining congressmen to draft the Constitution of Onza on 14 January 1940. Just a few days later, elections were held, and Mudima was elected as the 1st President of the UDE.

President of the UDE

Mudima became the 1st President of the UDE on 26 January 1940. Mudima aggressively pushed for a reunification plan, and invested heavily into rebuilding the nation's infrastructure and reintegrating the western half of the nation. Although the effort wasn't entirely successful, it made considerable progress in a short period of time and set the precedent for how the government should handle crises.

Although term limits were not legally enforced during this time period, Mudima initially expressed that he would vacate the office in 1944. He decided instead that he would seek reelection, which led to him running unopposed. The same happened when Mudima said he would step down in 1948, but instead sought reelection. He finally left office in 1950, stating that in the future, term limits should be respected.

Mudima also instated the Mudima Doctrine -- an isolationist approach to foreign policy that dominated Onzaian international relations all the way up until 2017.