The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III, on Thursday in Ilorin, called on Nigerians to continually pray for their leaders, even in challenging situations.

The Sultan made this appeal during a Public Lecture and Special Book Presentation held in honour of Professor Is'haq Oloyede at the University of Ilorin.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Oloyede clocked 70 on Wednesday and formally retired from the services of the University of Ilorin.

Oloyede, in spite of his retirement, is still the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

The books written in honour of Oloyede are “Islamics, Scholarship and Service to Society, A Festschrift for Is-haq Olarewaju Oloyede”, and “Glimpses into the Giant: A Tapestry of Tributes to Prof. Is-haq Oloyede at 70”.

The programme was organised by KU8+ Consortium of Universities in Kwara, which has Oloyede as the Director of Board of Trustees.

The Sultan said Nigerians should stop the habit of cursing their leaders, instead urging them to rather pray for the leaders no matter how bad the situation is.

“Don't curse your leaders, no matter how bad they may be, but pray for them. Never talk ill of your leaders. Even, if a leader is bad, pray for him.

“If you pray for him/her, Almighty God can make him/her turn a new leaf and make him/her a better person that you will enjoy.

“Don't condemn your leaders. No matter how bad they are, pray for them,” he counselled.

The Sultan, who announced the conferment of a new title of Kuliya of Sokoto on Oloyede, said he was always happy when he visited Ilorin.

Abubakar, who poured encomiums on Oloyede, added: “Whenever I come to Ilorin, I always feel so much happy. I came to Ilorin for the first time in 1984, about 40 years ago as an Army Captain.

“We thank God for Prof. Oloyede's life and pray God to protect him. Though, he's retiring from the university, he will continue to be useful to Nigeria and humanity,” he said.

The Sultan expressed happiness that the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, had conferred the same title of Kuliya, (which means a judge) on a legal luminary, Malam Yusuf Ali.

While noting that Oloyede and Ali are close associates who have many things in common, the Sultan said: “I hereby confer on Oloyede the title of Kuliya of Sokoto. I will send the letter of appointment to him as soon as I return to Sokoto.”

He said he was very pleased to attend the programme, adding “it's very important. We thank God for Oloyede's life. We'll continue to ask him to do more”.

The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi who was the chairman of the event, also charged Nigerians to encourage their leaders to perform optimally.

“Do not castigate (them) all the time. I'm not saying that we don't have problems, but when you begin to relegate or malign the country, I don't know what you are portraying to the outside world.

“You may think you are doing them a favour but at the end of the day they will show you the way out.

“I agree, however, that among us we have some bad eggs and it's normal even in the developed countries.

So, what we need to do to minimise it (because you can't totally eradicate the situation), is to ensure that we put up a policy, behaviour, activities that will discourage things that will inhibit development and respect for the country,” he said.

Also speaking, the Secretary-General of KU8+, Prof. Francisca Oladipo, said KU8+ was made up of all the universities in Kwara.

“….(it is) to form a network and a partnership to improve on tertiary education in the state, Nigeria and Africa”.

Oladipo, who is the Vice-Chancellor of Thomas Adewumi University at Oko in Kwara, described Oloyede as somebody who prioritises the establishment of partnership and consortium among universities.

“This is not only in Nigeria but in Africa as a whole.

“Our (KU8+) objectives align with his objective of strength in number and he has been of support to us at individual universities.

“Being a scholar, we can not think of a better way to honour him than to have something permanent in his name.

“The authors are scholars and Vice-Chancellors from different universities across the world and these books will be in libraries across the world,” she said