ILORIN: JUST BEFORE OUR TEARS DRY UP FOR THE DEATH OF ICONIC AGF ABDUL-RASAQ.

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 By Mohammad Abdulkadri.     

   The ancient City of Ilorin, the citadel of Islamic tenets and the abode of great Ulamas is understandably and  inexcusably enveloped in the thick darkness of mourning.

 This is sequel to a  devastating  death of one of  its finest and  best human capital asset, Abdulgabiyu Folorunsho Abdulrasaq who took a bow off the stage of life and returned to his Creator on Saturday July 25th 2020.  What a colossal loss of a Colossus Senior  Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) of Ilorin extraction who was unarguably  the First Northern lawyer called to the bar in 1955.  

Yes it is  normal and natural as human  creation of Almighty Allah to grieve and groan over the passage of a loved one and a  great  Community Leader and a builder of National and international repute who died at the ripe age of 93.

  Permit me to use the words of Ngugi in one of his novels,” weep not Child”” by saying  ”weep not my people”” over the inevitability of death which is unambiguously  stated in the unquestionable words of  the Almighty Allah that every soul, young or old, rich or poor, male or female,  affluent or  poor must taste death at the appointed time. 

This position  is buttressed  in  Al -Quran: Innalillai wa ina ilahi rajiuna. Meaning : ”from Him(God) we came and to Him (God) we shall return” . The fact remains that our beloved father, AGF had answered the last call and will  never answer any earthly  calls by any mortal again. 

While this reality of never again  ignited  a torrential flow of tears  from my swollen  eyeballs  grieving over  the exit of one of the pillars of support and pride of our people  a deluge of critical interrogational question created a convulsive  tremor in my heart.

 I therefore exercised  caution which automatically  dried up my tears for the deceased. I consoled  my self  with the fact that he left his  indelible footprints on the sands of time in the  annals of Ilorin,  kwara, Nigeria  and the world at large.  

 Beyond  crying for the departed father of Our amiable Governor  Abdulrahman Abdulrasaq of kwara State, I engaged my mind in retrospective  mode  to  analyse  the vacuum created by his death which obviously will be difficult to fill. 

 I recalled  with pride sense of history  that the highly referred and respected  Mattawalin of Ilorin was passionate about  entrenching the culture  of learning  and teaching as  a learned  personage  which translated in his desire to pioneer the establishment of the first post primary Ilorin Community Secondary School, now known as Government  High School Ilorin. 

This laudable feat of the late septogenarian in history of  Western education  in Ilorin made me to  reflected on the dying culture of Self – help  Community  development educational project  that was pioneered by him at that time.  

His death has imposed a lesson  on us 

to reflect on the extent to which we as a people  are  sustaining such self help empowerment  of our people in  education, job creations and infrastructural sectors. 

Today in our cherished community the reversal of priority  crept in among the young generations   with over reliance on government to spoon feed us. 

Some investors  are currently taking undue advantage of the situation with over charged pay in highly  commercialised Private Schools that  are daily  denying our children access to education for all. 

The  late Patriarch of  Abdul-razaqs was a mentee not only in learning and character  but also in giving back to his people in many ways too numerous to itemise. 

To his credit, generations of professional lawyers  who modelled  their  careers  after him sprang up not only in his hometown  of ilorin but across  nigeria.

 He was an enigmatic leader who replicated and re-invented himself  in many people known and unknown to him beyond the shores of Ilorin  before death took him away.  Undeniably,  AGF died  a fulfilled  and happy man.  

This is to the glory of God after a successful  tour of duty  and service  to humanity and to his creator.  In many  ways  the deceased justifiably laboured to bequeth just and equitable  society as demanded of him by  his professional calling as a defender of the defenceless. He vehemently  abhorred injustice, abuse of human  rights  and dignity pervading the corridors of powers couched in anti- people agenda and propaganda that characterised  our past National  experiences. 

Fortunately,  his Son is occupying the driver seat in the governance of kwara state and had no choice  drawing  from inspiration of his late father’s philosophical  standpoint. For instance, he is championing  as a matter of priority and doggedness   the treasured dream of kwarans  to  emplace  a  state for all kwarans and not for the few privileged cabals.

 It will be a great honour for the late AGF in his grave therefore, to see all kwarans and indeed the people of Ilorin to be on the same page with the Governor to justify  the re-birth  agenda of  our state that is now  freed from the shackles  of enslavement and personal enrichment of few individuals at the expense of the toiling workers and poor masses.   

  The  Late father  of Dr Alimi, Senator Hairat Gwadabe Isiaka, Hajiia Aishat  Lawal and Baba among others bequeathed the most beautiful  gifts of human capital assets  to human race    by the intimidating  pedigree of the  children he left behind who   are capable of facing the challenges to continue on his trajectory  of rendering  unblemished  services where he stopped.  

While consolidating on the legacies of their father they should remain unitedly prayerful in ensuring a successful tenure of one of  them whose tenure by providence  symbolically coincided with the death of your patriarch.

 His death  couldn’t have happened at a more auspucious time than now that his son is the occupant of the seat of kwara  state political power. 

He couldn’t  have asked for more as a  farewell gift from God  as a proud father whose long dream was actualised before his departure.  Let me say painfully though,  a very emotional  good night to our great father of all and an elder stateman  who weathered the  storms and paid his dues in making  Our cherished  community a  better place than he met it.

 I say  a big thank you Baba even in your grave for putting  nigeria in the global map of reckoning  in legal profession with your  integrity  intact till the point of exit from the stage of life. 

Your immeasurable  contributions  to nation building  will forever remained a reference point for all nigerians to emulate.  

We are pleased that history will remember you as  a well celebrated personality  in  life and death just as we hope and pray that you   will be better celebrated in the hereafter as the occupant of the finest  abode in jannat Firidaus. 

Tribute by Mohammad Abdulkadri, Special  Assistant Media and Publicity to Minister of Defence.

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