Opinion: Abdul-Ganiyu Folorunsho AbdulRazaq: Gone, Yet Evergreen In Our Memories. By Bashir Adigun

Date: 2020-07-29

There is no doubt that the late Mutawali of Ilorin has left indelible footprints on all areas of human endeavours in Nigeria. He has lived a fulfilled life worthy of emulation, not only by the people he left behind in his family, but for all young Nigerians who aspire to live exemplary lives.

The late Alhaji Abdul Ganiyu Folorunsho Abdul-Razaq, popularly known as AGF, was the first lawyer from Northern Nigeria. Baba AGF Abdul-Razaq was a senior advocate of Nigeria, life bencher, member of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), and Grande Officer De La Ordre National, Cote D'Ivoire. He was a foremost lawyer, teacher, politician, humanist, philanthropist and, above all, a Nigerian who loved his people. The Tafida of Zazzau and Mutawalin, Ilorin was a man of many first, not only in the North but the whole of Nigeria.

Baba Abdul-Razaq, the first child of his parents, was the first indigene of the Ilorin emirate and Northern Nigeria to have acquired early education in Igbo land and South-South Nigeria at both primary and secondary school levels. He was also the first Ilorin indigene to gain admission for university education in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom, and the first northern Nigerian to qualify as a lawyer and barrister-at-law.

He was the first Ilorin indigene to be appointed Nigeria's ambassador to a foreign land, first to be a federal mMinister and he was the pioneer commissioner for Finance and later commissioner for Health in the old Kwara State, from 1967-1972.

As the legal adviser to the Northern People's Congress (NPC), Baba AGF was a member of the 1957 London constitutional conference, where he exhibited brilliance, to the surprise of older delegates at the conference. He played a major role in the conference and the commission of inquiry, which was later set up to ensure that Ilorin and Kabba province remain part of Northern Nigeria

According to an elder statesman and the most read contemporary author on the history of the Ilorin emirate, Alhaji L.A.K Jimoh, Alhaji AGF Abdul-Razaq's leading contributions in the creation of Kwara State and his inestimable legal victory for all traditional rulers and chieftaincy title holders to be turbaned, like in the rest of the North, alonside the retention of land resources by what is today the Ilorin emirate, and his singular establishment of the then Ilorin College, now Government High School, Adeta, as the first individual private school in the State, made the late AGF Abdul-Razaq a leading reference in patriotism to the younger generation in the Ilorin emirate and the State in general.

Sharing the same view, another statesman and a leader of the progressives in the fight for the liberation of Kwara State in the last four decades, Chief Wole Oke, described Baba AGF Abdul-Razaq as the leading contributor, inspirator and supporter of the creation of Moro and Asa Local Government Areas, over three decades ago, at a time when the overwhelming majority of the elites in the polity could not see the benefits for the creation of the two local governments

There is no doubt that the late Mutawali of Ilorin has left indelible footprints on all areas of human endeavours in Nigeria. He has lived a fulfilled life worthy of emulation, not only by the people he left behind in his family, but for all young Nigerians who aspire to live exemplary lives.

The Tafida Zazzau is gone but he would remain ever green in our memories.

May the Almighty Allah grant him Aljanah Firdous and comfort all those he left behind. ( Amin)

Bashir Adigun, a journalist, lives in Abuja.

Source

 


Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Kwara State Council Of Chiefs     Basit Olatunji     Ishola Moses Abiodun     Mohammed Yisa     Moji Makanjuola     Ibraheem Abdullateef     Abdullateef Abdussalam     Odo-Owa     Ojuekun Sarumi     Arandun     Chief Imam Of Ilorin     JSSCE     State Bureau Of Internal Revenue     Rasaq Jimoh     Labaeka     Alaro     Abdulmajeed Wahab     Mohammed Khadijat Kubura     Sidikat Akaje     Adeola Abraham     Post-utme     HAMFAT Clinic And Maternity     Mike Omotosho     James Ayeni     Hassan Saliu     Durosinlohun Atiku     Muhammad-Mustapha Suleiman     TESCOM     Ajase-Ipo     Ahman Patigi     Lola Ashiru     Abdulrahman Iliasu     Kanu Agabi     Lithium     Sheikh Ridhwanullah     Isiaka AbdulRazaq     John Dara     Sadiq Buhari     Haliru Yahaya     Senior Staff Union Of Colleges Of Education     Saka Balikis Kehinde     Diagnostic Centre     Paul Odama     Joshua Adeyemi Adimula     Shonga     Bio Ibrahim     Monkey Pox     Raliat AbdulRazaq     Ibrahim Abduquadri Abikan     Kazeem Oladepo     Ibrahim Agboola Gambari     Apaola     Fatimat Saliu     Abdulmutalib Shittu     Tanke Road     Saka Isau     Soffiyyallah Kamaldeen     Arinola Fatimoh Lawal     Kwara North     Orisun Igbomina     Olubukola Kifayat Adedeji     Centre For Community Empowerment And Poverty Eradication     Fatai Garuba Labaka     Folashade Omoniyi     Olabode Towoju     Kwara State University Of Education     Ballah     Bayo Lawal     Al-Hikmah Radio     Ayeyemi Sulaiman     Oni Adebayo     Abdulkadri Ahmad Alaiye     Saka Aleshinloye     Kumbi Titiloye     Maigida     Laolu Saraki     Kwara State Geographic Information Service    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Muhammadu Buhari     Y.A. Abdulkareem     Oju Ekun Sarumi     Harafat E. Mukadam     A.E. Afolabi     Yusuf Abdulwahab     Gbemi Saraki     Congress For National Consensus     KWIRS     Farouk Salim     Playing Host     Kamaldeen Ajibade     Towobola Abdulrahman Toyin     Olatunde Jare     Binta Abubakar-Mora     SUBEB     Mohammed Abdulahi     Oba Of Jebba     Azeez Salawu     Charles Ibitoye     Third Estate     Donatus Ejidike     Centre For Digital Economy     Olofa Of Offa     Abdulwahab Oba     Musbau A. Akanji     Lanre Jimoh     Agboola Abdulraheem     Haruna Tambiri Mohammed     Saka Adeyemo     Abdulmajeed Abdullahi     IFK     Yoonus Kola Olatinwo     George Funsho Adebayo     Oniyangi     Iyiola Oyedepo     Medview Airlines     NNPP     CELF     Toyin Saraki     Yusuf Abdulkadir     Sabo-Oke     Babs Iwarere     Kehinde Boyede     March 18     Atiku Abubakar     Saadu Alanamu     Innocent Okoye     Rex Olawoye     Bankole Omisore     Photo News     Adamu Atta     Mike Omotosho     Bello Taoheed Abubakar     HYPPADEC     Universal Basic Education Commission     Ganmo Electricity Sub-Station     Trader Moni     Ahmad Olanrewaju Belgore     Idowu Laro     Dagbalodo     Ilorin East     David Oyedepo     Aremu Odolaye     Bayer Nigeria Limited     Haliru Yahaya     NURTW     CLAY POT     Trade Lenda SME Fair     Rotimi Samuel Olujide     Mohammed Yahaya Barki     Abdulrahman Abdullahi Kayode     Sanitation Exercise     Chief Of Staff     Olatunji Ayeni     Suleiman Rotimi Iliasu     Orire