Busoga prince torn between lovers

By Kampala Sun writer

Prince William Nadiope (Gabula IV), the popular choice for heir to the Kyabazinga (king) of Busoga’s throne, is in the eyes of many people a handsome and humble eligible bachelor.

However, although the 26- year- old king’s reluctance to find and reveal a ‘princess’ hasn’t really grabbed headlines or caused his subjects to press the panic button, the current state of Prince Gabula’s love life, which has been thrust into media spotlight, is certain to fan a reaction.

The Kampala Sun has exclusively learnt that Prince Gabula, who only started dating recently, is in a love dilemma already and suffers persistent girlfriend headache” as he seems to have problems choosing between two eligible ladies who are not about to give up on the dream of becoming Queen of Busoga (Inhebantu).

According to close sources, the two ‘potentials’, Josephine Tibyonza and Hilda Bathsheba both third year course mates and roommates at Makerere University who until recently also attended Church together, are locked in a battle for the royal nod.

The Best Friends for Life (BFF’s) who previously shared everything apart from men, developed cracks when Prince Gabula came into the picture. He ably ‘mixed’ both women so much so that by the time he made his royal pick, cracks had appeared and the jilted girl is crying foul.

The two girls, residents in Wandegeya’s Taibah Hostel have since gone their separate ways. The source privy to this feisty battle tells Thee Kampala Sun that when Josephine Tibyonza, a born and bred Musoga girl from Iganga introduced her royal ‘boyfriend’ ( Prince Gabula) to the bosom friend Hilda, a Munyankole, as a way of endorsement, she envisaged that she (Hilda) would be happy for her.

However, she will live to regret her move after claims that Hilda instead snatched her man. One glance at both ladies and you will conclude that the prince has a type. He loves women with big hips. It is one with the bigger hips who has the upper hand at the moment in this battle that shows no immediate sign of relenting.

JOSEPHINE BACK-STABBED

“Josephine seemed hell-bent on marrying into royalty. She was in the habit of telling whoever cared that she was in love with Prince Gabula. She claimed he felt the same about her. It is possible she alerted her parents of an impending royal visit,” the mutual friend says.

It isn’t readily known whether his feelings towards Josephine were mutual but the source maintains that when Prince Gabula chanced on the sexy and leggy Hilda he saw a total package and came out of his shell by pursuing her relentlessly even at the risk of abandoning his royal airs. The rest, as they say, is history.

Prince Gabula and Hilda are in a steady relationship after he made his royal pick on Valentine’s Day this year while Josephine nurses a broken heart after being ‘dumped’.

This, according to close friends, has rubbed Josephine the wrong way. When you expected her to not confront her nemesis and beat the living day lights out of her like most women would; she remains calm and diplomatic at least in the public eye.
This was evidenced when The Kampala Sun approached her to validate the claims. “Gossip spreads faster than truth. It is all gossip. Nothing happened.”

Whoever told it to you has a fertile imagination. If it were true the prince dumped me for my best friend, I would have told you because it hurts when someone steals your boyfriend,” she told us.

Josephine, who currently works with Brac Uganda, an international development organisation claims she simply moved on from the friendship a er she became busy with work. She even expresses her doubt as to whether Prince Gabula is actually dating Hilda.

“Gabula knows who to date and who not to date... and I doubt he would find anything interesting about Hilda. As far as I know, Hilda has another boyfriend who is not Gabula.” A mutual friend however insists, inwardly Josephine should be hurting.

She privately confided in someone that she loved the prince so much but he never reciprocated her feelings and what is worse, he betrayed her with a close friend. In the ensuing period after the rumour of Prince Gabula’s engagement to Hilda, Josephine Tibyonza moved out of Taibah Hostel to stay elsewhere. She even blocked Hilda as a friend on the social media website Facebook.

JOSEPHINE RANTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Josephine’s claim that it is all good between them is, however, betrayed by her ambiguous Facebook posts; most of which point to someone in an unstable state of emotions.

In one post, she declares there are better things to do than wait for marriage. In the ensuing posts, she barely attempts to veil her thoughts. She once posted on her timeline:

“It is not good to trust quiet and shy men because you could be shocked to know what they end up doing behind your back. This is a man I have always respected and known all my life.” She later deleted the message.

In another one, her intended target was clear. “You sleep with my first ex-boyfriend, I blame it on men, you sleep with a friend I just introduced you to yesterday, I still blame it on men. You sleep with my cousin brother, I blame it on men… You sleep with the most lousy man I’ve ever known, I still blame it on men.

You sleep with my best male friend… it is too much for me but I still get it.. that is you. And as a friend, I accept you the way you are and still blame it on men then you go ahead and tend to date or sleep with my current Ex.??? seriously should one still blame it on men or you???

HILDA SPEAKS OUT

Hilda, who stays at Wandegeya’s Taibah Hostel, doesn’t think she is a husband snatcher. She insists Josephine knows everything about Gabula’s decision to move out with her. “Josephine can do nothing about it. She was angry when she found out but she knows the truth. I don’t expect her to say anything since the prince is clear about who he wants,” Hilda says.

She maintains she wasn’t an easy lay and it is the prince who stalked her into submission. The two live like an ordinary couple and have been noticed frequenting places like Daytona Bar at Capital Shoppers Ntinda and at Garden City Shopping Mall. He frequents her hostel and picks her up every weekend.

In a flash back, she traces how it all started. “We were tight buddies and Josephine always told me… “Eh, do you know our king is on Facebook”. So what? Why is she telling me?” I told myself.

At the time, Hilda claims she never knew Prince Gabula or how he looked like. Besides, her view on royalty was dim since in Ankole, where she hails from, it (royalty) isn’t really heralded. “She kept insisting I meet him and we did meet one day,” she recalls.

Even after the three met at Theatre La Bonita, it was just the mandatory ‘Hi’. She claims Gabula never had her hooked from the word Hello. Her impression of him was of a well cultured and good mannered guy who was properly brought up.

PRINCE STALKS

“I never knew how he got my number. However, a few weeks after meeting at Theatre La Bonita with Josephine purring on about how charming and honest her boyfriend was, I got a text message from him,” she recalls.

She regrets not telling Josephine about it when he engaged her on phone. With a tinge of guilt in her voice, she doesn’t recall when she started liking the guy.

“He put in an effort. He was on the phone almost all the time telling me how he fancied me. He told me Josephine was just a friend. I played hard to get and we broke off communication for  over two months,” she says. Then he sent me a text message: “Why are you quiet on me? (Sic) I miss you.”

After the lull and the message, she agreed to go on a date; one of the numerous they have been to. A friend confirms that they have strong feelings for each other and the prince has openly admitted to friends that Hilda is his ‘true love’. “ They love each other like mad and everything is so good between them.”

For Hilda, the prince, currently employed as a development analyst at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, is a god-send and everything you would want in a man.

“He is a pure, kind-hearted individual, who listens and treats me with a lot of respect. He is very nice, very sweet, and very lovable. I don’t regret meeting him,” she says.

She claims to have met his family, which gave a green light. Since the Busoga Kingdom has no restrictions on which tribe the Kyabazinga marries from, she stands as the (Queen Mother) Inhebantu-in waiting, who many in the Kingdom have longed for.