By Abubakar Imam
One of the strongest criticisms attracted by my recently-published work on outstanding people of the southernmost Emirate, which is titled “Ilorin Emirate’s Frontliners”, is the inclusion of profiles and pictures of a few prominent individuals who, though based in the blessed city of Ilorin, are not indigenes of the community.
While some critics felt that I was wrong in including information on those distinguished individuals in the book, a number of my compatriots loved it as I also remain strongly convinced that making it all encompassing is the best.
This is because it is evidently clear that Ilorin became what it is today as a result of the contributions of the “Oniles” or “Onilus” (indigenes) and the efforts of “Alejos” or “Ilorin-Gbemi” (settlers). This is not peculiar to Ilorin. It is also true of every human community over the ages .
For instance, is it possible to post such an effort on Agege in Lagos State without reference to the contributions of “Baba La Agege”, Shaykh Adam Abdullahi Al-Ilori (1917-1992) and his famous Markaz? Is it also possible to author any reasonable biographical works on eminent citizens of Otta in Ogun State without reference to the contributions of Shaykh Ibrahim Olohungbebe (1925-1997)? No similar work on Owo town in Ondo State would be considered worthy of the papers on which it is written without a mention of the contributions of the second Grand Mufti of Ilorin, Shaykh Khidir Salaudeen Apaokagi Al-Adabiy (1917-2013) and his El-Adabiyyah Arabic School established in the town in 1955. Shaykh Apaokagi, who was simply known as “Gomina Anabi” to the people of Owo, was a man who would always be celebrated in the annals of Islamic and Arabic Education in Ondo State. These gentlemen were indigenes of Ilorin who sojourned in those places, acquired fame and immortality there and subsequently became parts and parcels of their respective societies and histories till date.
Prof. Yusuf Olaolu Ali, SAN, the founder and Principal Partner of Ghalib Chambers, Ilorin, is one of those illustrious individuals born to parents of other extractions but who have lived in Ilorin for so many years in the course of which they became members of the community by affiliation and residency. This explains the inclusion of his profile and picture on pages 212 and 213 of the book earlier referred to.
His law firm, which was established in June, 1994, is due to mark its 30th anniversary at an event scheduled to hold on Saturday, June 1, 2024 in Ilorin. I, therefore, feel compelled to script a few things for the reading pleasure of all on some of the contributions of the legal titan and his firm to the progress and development of Ilorin Emirate. This is just to mark the epoch-making event that promises to be exciting, colourful and eventful.
Ghalib Chambers is one of the most popular and busiest law firms headquartered in Ilorin. Prof. Ali founded the firm sequel to his resignation from the services of the Chambers of Chief Adegboyega Awomolo. SAN Yusuf Ali’s first and only “official professional principal”
served as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Osun State from 1992 to 1993. The Igbajo-born senior lawyer held the strategic position in the administration of the late Asiwaju of Edeland, Chief Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke of blessed memory, who served as the first elected Governor of the State. Chief Awomolo, a very brilliant lawyer and outstanding statesman, was one of the earliest Senior Advocates of Nigeria appointed from the Ilorin bar. He is now based in Abuja.
Ghalib Chambers was initially situated on the popular Taiwo Road, Ilorin. The firm is now beautifully located on Wahab Folawiyo (Unity) Road, Ilorin, where it has continued to experience tremendous expansion in size, infrastructure, and human capital development.
In its exciting history, the firm has had no fewer than 270 staff members, including corps members and those who underwent various forms of industrial attachment. The Chambers is currently headed by Mr Yakubu Dauda. Mr Dauda, who hails from Ita-Kudimo area of Ilorin, was an immediate senior of this author at Barakat Community Secondary School, Ilorin. He took over the headship of the firm from another Ilorin-born lawyer, Alhaji Kehinde Kolawole Eleja, SAN. Lawyer Eleja “left” the Chambers to establish his own firm over a decade ago.
As an observer, I may not be wrong to assert that one of the most significant contributions of the firm to the progress of Ilorin Emirate is the provision of employment opportunities to several indigenes of the city and its surrounding communities. Two of the ex-staff members of the Chambers have had the privilege of being elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria. They are Alhaji Kehinde Kolawole Eleja and Chief R. D. Balogun, who hails from Igosun in the Oyun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The Chambers has also produced several High Court judges. A few of these jurists were subsequently elevated to the bench of the Court of Appeal.
It is also on record that the firm had produced two past chairmen of the Ilorin Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). They are Alhaji Kehinde Kolawole Eleja, SAN, who served between 2005 and 2007 and Chief R.D. Balogun, SAN who held the position from 2011 to 2013. Two staff members of the Branch were also elected as Secretary of the Branch. They are Chief R.D. Balogun, SAN; while Mr Taofiq Olateju is currently holding the position. This is a very significant achievement in a Branch that has become one of the most vibrant in the country. This vibrancy can be seen in the fact that it has produced two past NBA Presidents (Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, CFR; and Chief Bayo Ojo, SAN) and a former Secretary-General in Chief Rafiu Lawal-Rabanna, SAN; while the late doyen of Senior Advocates of Nigeria in Ilorin and former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Kwara State, Alhaji Aliyu Alarape Salman, SAN, many years earlier, served as a National Vice President of the umbrella organisation of lawyers in Nigeria.
In terms of services, the firm has handled lawsuits on behalf of the Emir of Ilorin and Ilorin Emirate Council and several indigenes of the community. The performance of the Chambers has not only earned the respected Monarch legal victories but has also boosted the prestige and authorities of the Emir and the Ilorin Emirate Council over customary related and allied issues.
The firm has also instituted a scholarship scheme for indigent students of Ilorin Emirate origin and those of Ifetedo community in Osun State, where its founder hails from. This would certainly enable indigent but brilliant indigenes of Ilorin Emirate pursuing different courses the privilege of acquiring education with little or no stress.
The contributions of the Chambers to the growth of the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, particularly following its reestablishment, is also worthy of being recalled. The Principal Partner of the Chambers, Prof. Ali was one of the prominent lawyers who took up teaching at the Faculty on adjunct basis. He was an Associate Lecturer at the Faculty. He also served as a Visiting Lecturer to the Faculty of Law, Kwara State University, Malete.
While Prof. Ali is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin; the newly established Muhammad Kamalud-Deen University, Ilorin, had also received assurances of support from him towards the establishment of its proposed Law Faculty.
In addition to his contributions towards the building of mosques across Ilorin Emirate and beyond, the founder of the Chambers is also one of the most consistent and notable sponsors of Islamic religious programmes on electronic media particularly during the month of Ramadan. These programmes have contributed to the deepening of the understanding of the essence and practice of the faith.
Prof. Ali has also built infrastructure for the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital. He also built a block of hostels for students of the University of Ilorin. He recently donated a utility vehicle to the Department of Religions, University of Ilorin sequel to the request of a former Head of the Department, Prof. Abubakr Imam Ali-Agan.
The respected senior lawyer has also honoured countless invitations of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU), the umbrella sociocultural organisation of the good people of Ilorin Emirate over the years. He has, in fact, had the privilege of presiding over the opening ceremony of an edition of the organisation’s annual national conference while he was the Chief Launcher at another previous edition. He is one of the few non-indigenes who played the two roles at different times in the almost 60 years history of the largest gathering of members of the Union from allover the world.
I equally recalled his donation of computers to the Ilorin Comprehensive High School (ICOHS), Ilorin, over a decade ago. This was done in response to the request of the then National President of IEDPU, Justice Saka Yusuf, OFR.
The generousity and fraternity of Prof. Ali could also be appreciated with the ease he celebrates individuals who attained eminence in the practice of Law, journalism, academic and other career endeavours. Many indigenes and residents of Ilorin Emirate are, indeed, beneficiaries of this gesture of the frontline lawyer.
Apart from being a member of the Board of Trustees of Ilorin Central Juma’at Mosque, which is chaired by a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Salihu Modibbo Alfa Belgore, GCON, Prof. Ali is also one of the most consistent contributors of funds and ideas towards the development and maintenance of the edifice, with annual donations of money running into millions of naira.
Perhaps, the greatest contribution of this learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria is his social integration efforts. Prof. Ali has continued to rightly see himself as an Ilorin man. He often jokes with his friends, which include the National President of IEDPU, Alhaji Abdulmumini Ayo Abdulmalik, that he is an “indigene” of Ilorin who, however, does not have a family compound in the town.
He is also one of the few indigenes of Southern Nigeria who preferred to be addressed as a “Mallam”, a title, which many from his sociocultural background see as “derogatory”. Beyond this and most significantly, three of his children are married to indigenes of Ilorin Emirate.
Aside from all these, Prof. Ali is also seen by many as a mentor. He provides leadership and mentorship to quite a number of indigenes of Ilorin Emirate some of whom are not even lawyers as he and his contemporaries were also mentored by many elders of Ilorin, some of whom had since passed to the great beyond.
One other important area of contribution of the founder of this great legal firm and an outstanding “Ilorin-Gbemi” (apologies to Prof. AbdulGaniy Abdulsalam Oladosu) is being a key figure and driver of the now viable and efficient Islamic Welfare Foundation (IWF). The organisation is a significant addition to spectacle of Muslim initiatives that have their roots in Ilorin. IWF has become a strategic platform for professional, economic and social networking among Muslim elites.
Prof. Ali, who was recently appointed as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, was born on September 7, 1956 in the ancient city of Ibadan but to a father who hailed from Ifetedo, the headquarters of Ife North Local Government Area of the present-day Osun State. After his primary education, Prof. Ali proceeded to the famous Ibadan Boys High School, Ibadan, where he earned his West African School Certificate (WASC).
This highly respected senior lawyer, who is a patron of several sociocultural, religious, and students groups, read Law at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, Osun State. He graduated with a Second Class Upper Division degree from the prestigious University in 1982. He was subsequently called to the Nigerian Bar in 1983 following his successful completion of required training at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos. He also earned his Master’s degree in the same discipline from the same first generation University in 1991.
As soon as he became a lawyer, Prof. Ali left the comfort of his parents at Ibadan to settle at Ilorin. He has been part of the Ilorin community, “the renowned sanctuary of saints, scholars and soldiers”, since then. He started from scratch at the city before attaining the apex of his career as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria in 1997. He is currently the second most senior surviving Senior Advocate of Nigeria based in Ilorin by the date of appointment. He comes after Chief Peter Olorunisola, SAN, who is a member of the pioneer Kwara State Executive Council and an indigene of Igbaja in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.
Prof. Ali started at the law firm of Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN. After a decade of active services and upon attaining the headship of the Chambers, he set up his own law firm, which he named Ghalib Chambers. Despite having branches in Lagos and Abuja, the Chambers and its illustrious founder are uniquely associated with Ilorin.
As the Chambers celebrates its 30th anniversary of colourful and active presence in the nation’s legal firmament, I wish the law firm and its celebrated founder more rewarding professional contributions and general accomplishments.
Imam is National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
