In NTOABOMA, only the Military King (Asafo-Atse) could declare war or even entice other nations to war.
A ceremonial king, in traditional Ntoaboma for instance, had only political power. Which meant that he could build a school or change curriculum with state funds. A ceremonial king could not override an Asafo-Aste, or the Queen Mother, or the Priesthood in times of war.
Four levers of government: The Asafo-Atse, the Queen Mother, the Ceremonial King, and the Priesthood. More, the Asafo-Atse could not declare war without the Priesthood.
And so the ceremonial king and the Queen Mother were civil leaders. The Asafo-Atse and the Priesthood were the material and spiritual defenses/protection of the state. Therefore the Asafo-Atse and the Priesthood are not elected. They belong to special clans, and secret cults of men and women to protect information sensitive to statecraft.
Now imagine a situation in which a ceremonial king declares war! He will be left to die alone in battle or the Queen Mother will de-stool him, and the Asafo-Atse will order his Executioner to behead the king. A new king will be elected from one of many royal clans. Simple. One war, one man dead. Simple.
This is why prior to Arabic and European invasions into Africa, Africa had very few wars. Very very few! Our traditional political structure is as air-tight as it can get.
Vesting all power in a Ceremonial King, what is now called the Paramount Chief, or sometimes the Mankralo, is a weird Colonial Political Move that Europeans enacted to de-tool and incapacitate the traditional military in Africa. But it is not an African tradition. In fact, the idea of a paramount chief is very tribal, and very European!
