By Abubakar Imam
“Never throughout history has a man
who lived a life of ease left a name
worth remembering”
-Franklin Roosevelt(1882-1945)
32nd U. S President
One of the most important reasons, which propelled the publication of my book, “Ilorin Emirate’s Frontliners”, is the need to fulfill two of the lines of the 1st stanza of Nigeria’s National Anthem. The lines of the anthem, which was introduced in 1978, and under reference says “the labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain”. I often asked myself that how would such glorious services and selfless sacrifices not be futile if those who offered them are neither remembered/celebrated nor emulated?
Hence, the book, which contains some verifiable information on 322 remarkable indigenes and notable residents of Ilorin Emirate. These individuals are among thousands of others who played critical roles at one time or the other towards the stability, peace and progress of Ilorin Emirate and the nation at large. They are honoured in the book and concomitantly presented to younger ones for the purpose of emulation.
Many of those treated in the book are men and women of timber and caliber but of yesteryears. They are rarely known to many of my contemporaries and younger compatriots. Members of the generations behind ours, not to talk of the so-called “indomie generations”, who were born at the inception of the ongoing fourth republic and are now adept in the exploration of the modern means of information dissemination, do not even know anything about most, if not all, of those heroes. Yet, those individuals not only lived but also lived very well and probably gave their yesterday for our today.
One of those departed heroes is the subject of this piece, Alhaji Salihu Alabi Nagode, who died exactly 40 years ago (October 17, 1983) at the age of 59. Yours sincerely is of the conviction that the man should be remembered for the roles he played and particularly for bequeathing a legacy of selfless services to his family, the community and the nation at large.
I must confess that I never met him. He died while I was quite young. I was, therefore, not opportune to know him and many of his contemporaries who died around the same period.
He, however, became known to me in the course of my interactions with elders of the community some of whom had also transited to the great beyond. These gentlemen included a retired Chief Judge of Kwara State and former National President of the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), Honourable Justice Saka Yusuf,OFR (d. 2018) under whom I served as an Assistant National Secretary of the IEDPU between 2009 and 2013; and his friend, Alhaji Safi’i Adebayo Usuf, the late Magaji Olodo family of Oke-Ikoyi (Adeta) Quarters, Ilorin, who died in 2021.
Each time I was with them or either of the duo they always remembered one thing or the other to say about Alhaji Nagode and his contemporaries, who were their senior compatriots. They often talked about his courage. His statesmanship was also often discussed. They never forgot his patriotism as well as his sense of personal conviction.
It must also be added that the Emir of Ilorin and Chairman, Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR, on more than one occasions, recalled the pathfinding roles Alhaji Nagode played for younger indigenes of Ilorin Emirate in Lagos, particularly in the mid and late 1960s. He particularly recalled that it was Alhaji Nagode who led him into the Lagos preaching arena of the late pioneer Grand Mufti of Ilorin and founder of the Ansarul Islam Society of Nigeria, Shaykh Muhammad Kamaluddeen Al-Adabiy, MFR, OFR, ORSA, FISN (1905-2005), when he (the Emir) returned to Nigeria after his education in Great Britain.
It was, therefore, not difficult for me to include Alhaji Nagode in the list of individuals whose lives and times are captured in the book earlier mentioned. Accordingly, his profile and picture are on page 44 of the book.
Alhaji Nagode was and still quite fortunate. This is because he was survived by children who loved him and were ready to celebrate his memories. Many are not so fortunate. I say this with all sense of seriousness as my experience in the course of gathering materials for the book earlier referred to revealed.
While some children could neither say anything tangible nor produce relevant materials about either or both of their parents who died several years after this gentleman, the surviving children of Alhaji Nagode were forthcoming with all that were needed to produce his profile. They were able to supply his curriculum vitae and pictures as well as other relevant but unwritten information about their late father with alacrity and ease. It was not so easy with many others!
This outstanding patriot was born into the family of Mallam Alabi ibn Suleiman and Madam Amina Omo Alagan of Idiagbon Compound, Ajia-Ijesha Quarters, Edun Road, Ita-Kure, Ilorin in 1924. His parents and other elderly members of his family called him either Alfa or Nagode.
He was called Alfa in honour of Shehu Alimi,the progenitor of the Ilorin royal dynasty, whose real name was Saliu. On the other hand, he was addressed as “Nagode” because he was the first of the 8 children who survived infant mortality experienced by their beloved parents. All the seven children that preceded him and the two that came afterward died very early in life. His parents and their well wishers were so concerned. They were said to have consulted some Mallams(Muslim clerics), who after ceaseless prayers, predicted some symbols that would be remarkable in the physiognomy of the child that would survive them. All the signs were seen in the little kid when he was given birth to a century ago. And they heaved a sigh of relieve by saying “Nagode Allah” (thanks to the Almighty Allah). Hence, the little boy was interchangeably known and addressed as either Alfa or Nagode by his relations and contemporaries.
On coming of age and finding himself in school, he took Nagode as a lastname instead of his father’s name. This attitude was very common among members of his generation and those who followed them across Ilorin Emirate and defunct Northern Region. They rarely answered their fathers’ names in school and subsequently. They instead take the names of their compounds, quarters or towns as their lastnames just to protect the “dignity” of their fathers’ names. My late father, Mallam Jimoh Imam Pakata(d. 2012), told me that he and many of his contemporaries from the same “adugbo” adopted “Pakata” as their lastnames because they wouldn’t want anybody to be mentioning their fathers real names any how (Ao fe ki won mon la oruko mon awon Baba wa lori). To them, it was culturally repulsive to be addressed by one’s father’s names, particularly by their mates and all those who are younger in age to their fathers.
Alhaji Nagode was one of the not too many foremost technocrats and accomplished administrators who used the privilege of their offices to advance the image of their beloved Ilorin Emirate in the erstwhile public service of Northern Region and the federal public service, which he eventually joined and from which he gloriously retired after several years of meritorious services to his fatherland.
This illustrious son of Ilorin Emirate received the mandatory Quranic education as it was customary among the people of Ilorin Emirate of his time and even till now. He did so along with some of his contemporaries from within and around Ita-Kure Quarters. The Quranic education not only granted him access to the dictates of his Maker but also prepared him for the eventual vagaries of life he encountered and the hereafter.
Alhaji Nagode commenced his pursuit of western education at a time when it was very unpopular to do so in his native Ilorin. He was a pupil of the famous Okesuna Primary School, Ilorin, from about 1936 to 1939. He proceeded to the old Ilorin Middle School (now Government Secondary School), Ilorin, where he was trained between 1940 and 1942.
As a brilliant pupil, he was among the few of his classmates who were selected for secondary education at the only secondary school in the defunct Northern Region, Barewa College, Zaria, which was then known as Government College, Kaduna, from Ilorin Province on March 28, 1942. His admission number at the College was 413.
He was at the famous College till 1945. At the College, he was a year junior to Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, GCFR, the first Executive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He was a year senior to the Honourable Justice Saidu Kawu, CON, the pioneer Chief Judge of Kwara State and the first Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria produced by Ilorin Emirate and Kwara State. Justice Kawu’s admission number at the College was 469. Others who were Alhaji Nagode’s immediate juniors and classmates of Justice Kawu at the College were the late Justice Mamman Nasir, GCON, the second President of the Court of Appeal, Federal Republic of Nigeria; and Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, CFR. Alhaji Sule was a very popular nationalist, politician and elder statesman, who served as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations during the second republic. Those enrolled into the College from the defunct Ilorin province on the same date and along with Alhaji Nagode, as recalled by Alhaji Abdulkareem Alabi (1938-2021), an alumnus of the great College, who retired as a Deputy Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NSC) in one of his books published in 2016, were Reuben Oye (414), Umaru Oke-Ode, the penultimate Emir of Lafiagi, whose admission number was 418; and a renowned educationist, Alhaji Yusuf Idiaro(1924-1996), whose number was 421.
As soon as he completed his training at the Barewa College, Alhaji Nagode joined the services of the erstwhile Ilorin Native Authority. He was posted to the Palace of the Emir of Ilorin where he, at a period, served as the Private Secretary to the 8th Emir of Ilorin, Mallam Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa, who reigned between 1919 and 1959.
His performances in the discharge of his responsibilities earned him commendations and accelerated promotions from his bosses including the then Emir of Ilorin, Shaykh Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa and the Chief Secretary to the Ilorin Native Authority, Alhaji Saadu Alanamu, which encouraged them to recommend him for further training. He was subsequently trained at the Institute of Administration, Kongo, Zaria (now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria)in the early 1950s where he, along with some of his colleagues from other parts of Northern Nigeria, were trained purposely to take-over from expatriates as District Officers. He also received further training in Public Administration in London, United Kingdom in 1973.
This illustrious son of Ilorin Emirate was also retrained abroad. He was trained at the prestigious University of Pittsburgh in the United States of America in 1976 at the end of which he received an Advanced Diploma in Public Administration.
As it was in vogue then, Alhaji Nagode combined public service with active partisan politics. He was, therefore, a staunch Member of the defunct Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), which controlled the Provincial, Regional and Federal Governments throughout the first republic. He was among the outstanding members of Ilorin intelligentsia of those days who played very critical and active roles in frustrating the attempted attempt to merge the then Ilorin Province to the defunct Western Region as vigorously pursued by the defunct Ilorin Talaka Parapo-Action Group Alliance in the late 1950s.
From the Ilorin Emirate Council, Alhaji Nagode became a Colonial Government Clerk in the Northern Region. He served in several places such as Maiduguri and Jalingo in the course of which he helped in enrolling many pupils into schools and thereby giving them opportunities to acquire western education against all odds. Many of the beneficiaries of such services later emerged as outstanding public servants and national figures.
From Jalingo, the capital of the present-day Taraba State, he was posted to Katsina where he served as District Officer. As such, he was the Administrator of all the territories constituting the entire present-day Katsina State.
At independence, Alhaji Nagode was one of the well-trained, tested and trusted Administrators drafted to the federal civil service by the Premier of the old Northern Region and Sardaurna of Sokoto, Alhaji (Sir) Ahmadu Bello, GCON, KBE (1909-1966). This was done to ensure that the Northern part of the country was well represented in the top echelon of the federal public service.
At the peak of his federal public service career, Alhaji Nagode served as the Secretary to the National Council on Establishment, during which he assisted many of his younger compatriots, particularly from Edun area and other parts of Ilorin Emirate into the federal public service and subsequently that of the Kwara State Government.
While in Lagos, he and the duo of Alhaji Yusuf Amuda Gobir and Alhaji A. A. Jimoh Oloje, among others, were said to be prominent members of the Lagos Branch of the Ilorin Descendants Progressive Union (IDPU). It was said that, at a period, the hosting of the meeting of the Lagos Branch of the Union was often rotated among them.
Sequel to the completion of his exciting career, which saw him working in the provincial, regional and federal services, Alhaji Nagode gloriously retired from active public service as a Deputy Permanent Secretary. His retirement was, however, cut short as he was appointed as the Honourable Commissioner for Health in the government of Kwara State at a very challenging episode in the annals of the State. He held the position between 1978 and 1979.
As soon as he completed that phase of his career as a Civil Commissioner, Alhaji Nagode was again appointed as a Member of the Kwara Health Management Board in 1980. Between 1981 and 1983, this outstanding technocrat was recalled by the Federal Government of Nigeria as he was appointed as a Federal Commissioner representing Kwara State in the National Population Commission (NPC) under the Chairmanship of an erstwhile fellow Kwaran, Alhaji AbdulRahman Okene, OBE(1914-1999).
Alhaji Nagode was happily married. His beloved seniormost wife was Alhaja Hanatu Belgore-Nagode (1934-2019), who was a daughter of Shaykh Mahmud Belgore and grand daughter of the 7th Emir of Ilorin, Shaykh Shuaib Bawa and niece to the 8th Emir, Shaykh Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa after whom her beloved youngest son- Abdulkadir Olatunji, and in whose house her remains were buried, was named. She was also an aunt to the current Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari,CFR and a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Salihu Modibbo Alfa Belgore, GCON. Alhaji Nagode’s second wife was Alhaja Hawawu Asunle, a daughter of Alhaji Adebayo of Alfa Compound, Edun Quarters, Ilorin. Alhaji Nagode, like most of his contemporaries across Ilorin Emirate, understandably ran a polygamous life because of the circumstance of his birth and the need to ensure that he evaded the unpalatable experience of his parents who had 10 children out of which only him survived them. He believed that if he had more than a wife, he could be blessed with many children that would perpetuate his name and legacies. I think he was right!
This he achieved outstandingly. On his death on Monday, October 17, 1983, Alhaji Nagode was survived by 16 children. Alhaji Suleiman Baba Nagode, a former Secretary to the Ilorin West Local Government Council of Kwara State and onetime member of the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Commission, is the eldest. He was followed by Honourable Justice Safiya Titi Daibu, who died in 2022 as the second most senior Judge in the Kwara State Judiciary. Late Justice Daibu would have probably emerged as the second female Chief Judge of Kwara State but for her death a few months to making such a history. His list of surviving children also include Mrs Hadiza Nagode-Adeyi, who was the District Manager, Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Kaduna; Alhaji Ahmed Bolaji Nagode,the Director-General of the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN); Alhaji Bayo Nagode, who served as Director of Personnel Management (DPM) at Ilorin East, Baruten and Isin Local Government Area Councils at various times ; and Dr Abdulkadir Tunji Nagode, the Executive Director, Finance, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) PLC as well as Mrs Maryam Folawiyo Gobir, a seasoned legal practitioner and wife of Alhaji Ahmed Ladan Gobir, onetime Honourable Commissioner and member of the Kwara State Executive Council in the last military administration in the State. Other children of this late patriot include Mrs Mopelola Oyebamiji, an Assistant Director with the Federal High Court, FCT, Abuja and Mr Abdulkareem Olayinka Nagode, who is a senior staff member of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and other children and grandchildren that are equally doing very well. It is very clear that the nuclear family left behind by this “Okanlomo” (the only surviving son of his parents) has now grown into a sort of dynasty with several of his children and grand children, who are highly educated and well placed professionals in public and private sectors at home and in diaspora.
Alhaji Nagode was also a sociable person. He had friends across and beyond Ilorin Emirate. They included Honourable Justice Saidu Kawu, CON (1928-2013), Alhaji Mahmud Bayo Baker (1924-2001), the pioneer National President of IEDPU and Alhaji Adio Agboola Jimoh, aka A. A. Jimoh Oloje (1922-1984), who died as a Commissioner in the Federal Civil Service Commission and was the second National President of the IEDPU. His friend also included a first republic Parliamentary Secretary, Alhaji A. K. Sule Gada(d. 1973); a renowned teacher and administrator,Alhaji Babatunde Gegele(d. 1988); and a distinguished public administrator and community leader, Alhaji Nasiru Oniyangi(1928-2021).
The death of Alhaji Nagode was mourned by the low and the mighty across the nation. The then President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari was not only ably represented at his funeral but also paid him moving tributes as encapsulated in a condolence letter to the Nagode family in appreciation of his varied and selfless services to the people and government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
As Alhaji Nagode is remembered today as always, I pray Allah to continue to grant his soul absolute forgiveness. I also pray Allah to strengthen surviving members of his family as I pray to Him to continue to bless Ilorin Emirate with outstanding indigenes and well-meaning residents, who would tirelessly work for the peace, progress and prosperity of the community and the nation at large. Aamiin.
Imam is National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
