By Abubakar Imam
He is from Okelele in the Ibagun Ward of Ilorin East Local Government Area while I am from Pakata in the Ubandawaki Ward of Ilorin West Local Government Area. He was born in the year that Nigeria secured her independence while I didn’t come into this side of existence until several years after. He attended Ilorin Grammar School (IGS) while I was trained at Barakat Community Secondary School, Ilorin, which was only founded two years before his (Olododo) graduation from IGS.
These geographical and generational parallels may prompt one into an analogy and think it’s practically impossible for Hon. Olododo and me to become acquainted. Yet, he has been in my consciousness since my primary school days.
This is because Hon. Olododo was and remains a very good friend of many of my elder brothers. A few of them were his schoolmates while most of them were his playmates. They were among those with whom he did so many things youngsters did in their formative years. He is, in fact, a bona fide member of the famous “Pakata Assembly” several decades before his election into the National Assembly. This shows that he is an Okelele boy who finds Pakata as his second home.
Not until last year, he would have found it very difficult, if not impossible, to pick me up from a crowd. However, we have, today, become “best of pals” since he honoured me with his attendance (by proxy) at the public presentation of my book titled “Ilorin Emirate’s Frontliners” last year.
The above represents the foundation and birth of a genuine relationship with the new and first to be named Gaskiya of Ilorin. Honourable AbdulGaniyu Saka Cook Olododo, by his age and relationship with my elder brothers, qualifies as my senior brother too. This, in addition to him being one of the fervent readers of my periodic articles, propelled me to do this piece as a way of celebrating and rejoicing with him on the latest feather added to his crown by the House of Shaykh Alimi.
May I, therefore, seek the indulgence of all to “formally introduce” this great and ever promising son of Ilorin, whose appointment as the Gaskiya of Ilorin, was made and announced on Wednesday (September 25, 2024) by His Royal Highness, the Emir of Ilorin and Chairman, Kwara State Council of Chiefs, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR.
As a public figure and vibrant politician, Hon. Olododo is a household name. I, however, believe his better qualities may be unknown to the populace and largely under reported except for comrades and compatriots who truly know the man. I believe that it was those attributes that encouraged the super-class monarch to honour him with the title as its first holder.
Hon. Olododo is a very responsive and responsible leader. He is of the few public figures that needed not to know you before picking your calls or responding to text messages.
Even while he was in the engine room of the Kwara State Government he still found it very easy to pick calls and reply to text messages. I know this because he responded to several of my enquiries when he was the Secretary to the Government of Kwara State during the administration of His Excellency, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki, CON, as the Governor of Kwara State and when he became a member of the federal parliament. You will agree with me that this is an attribute that cannot be said about several others. Many serving public officials are often too busy to answer “strangers” or “inconsequential members of the public”.
The Gaskiya Gerin is also a very courageous person. He is a man who is never afraid of taking a position or pursuing his conviction.
He has also been using his privileged positions positively. He is on record to be one of those who assisted in facilitating jobs and career progression as well as other forms of opportunities for several individuals at local, state and federal levels.
Hon. Olododo, just as his name implies, is a man of his words. He is someone who would always do as promised.
He is also very honest and straight forward. Hon. Olododo doesn’t know how to call a spade any other name except what you and I know it as.
It is, therefore, a befitting honour that Hon. Olododo has been tasked by the Emir to be the one who would say it to him as it is.
This reminds me of the first Hausa newspaper named Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo (Honesty is better than wealth), a publication that was edited by my namesake and model, Mallam Abubakar Imam, CON,(1911-1981) between 1939 and 1948. The late Imam, who hailed from Kagara in the present-day Niger State, was a member of the West African Press Delegation to the United Kingdom, which was ably led by the man who later became the first and only ceremonial President of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe (1904-1996). Mallam Imam was the only member of the delegation who refused to endorse a petition in London in 1943 because he did not have the permission of the people of Northern Nigeria, who he represented on the delegation, to do so. And he declared so to the consternation of the Great Zik of Africa! Olododo would have done the same.
Hon. Abdulganiyu Saka Cook Olododo, a businessman, community leader and politician, was born on December 25, 1960 in Ilorin. His father was Alhaji Sakariyah Cook, who was a member of the popular Amode family in the Okelele area of Ilorin.
The Gaskiya Gerin was admitted into St. Barnabas Primary School, Sabo-Oke, Ilorin, from where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate during the tenure of Reverend J. O. Aluko as the Headmaster of the School. For his post- primary education, he attended the famous Ilorin Grammar School, Ilorin, between 1977 and 1982. It was from this school that he received his West African School Certificate towards the end of the Principalship of Mr J. A. Adelowo, who hailed from the neighbouring Ogbomoso in Oyo State and was the fourth Principal of the School from 1978 to 1983.
Hon. Olododo proceeded to the then Kwara State College of Technology (now kwara State Polytechnic), Ilorin, where he recieved a Certificate in Estate Management. He also earned a Diploma in Public Administration from the same institution.
This great son of ilorin also obtained a Certificate in Conflict Analysis from the United States Institute of Peace in March, 2009 as he was also in November, 2009 conferred with an honorary doctorate degree in Political Science by the Concept College/University, London.
He also earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from the University of Abuja in 2012. He picked the degree through the University’s Distance Learning programme.
As a man of the people, Hon. Olododo has been honoured with many awards and chieftaincy titles across and beyond Kwara State.
Before joining politics, Gaskiya Gerin was engaged in full time business with his uncle.This was right from his secondary school days. He later stood on his own as a Petroleum dealer, transporter and Estate Manager.
Hon. Olododo was motivated into partisan politics by the leadership qualities of the late Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki (1933-2012), the celebrated second republic Senate Leader; as well as by the love he has for the progressive development of his community.
He was baptised into politics in the second republic and has never looked back. He has had a very robust political career, a vocation, which makes his name a household one within the Ilorin Emirate and beyond.
Prior to joining politics, he has been a leader as he has been playing leadership roles right from his secondary school days. He was the Headboy of Ilorin Grammar School, Ilorin, between 1981 and 1982.
His commitment to the welfare of his people eventuated in his election as the Executive Chairman of Ilorin East Local Government with its headquarters in Oke-Oyi in 1997.
Between 2003 and 2007, this remarkable personality served as the Chief of Staff, Government House , Ilorin. He was the second person to hold the position. He was subsequently appointed as the Honourable Commissioner for Water Resources in July, 2007.
A week after his appointment as an Honourable Commissioner and Member of the Kwara State Executive Council, he was moved to the Ministry of Rural Development where he was until November, 2008 when he was appointed as the Secretary to the Kwara State Government (SSG). He held the Office till when he was re-appointed as the Chief of Staff, Government House, Ilorin, in April 2010.
Having had enough of political appointments and as a tested politician coupled with his personal conviction in his popularity, Hon. Olododo voluntarily resigned from the Office of Chief of Staff to contest for the Membership of the House of Representatives in December, 2010. This attempt was, however, unsuccessful. He was subsequently appointed as the Coordinator of
Sure-P, a programme designed to alleviate the suffering of the ordinary people in Kwara Central Senatorial District during the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
In February, 2019, Alhaji Olododo proved his political popularity as he was elected as the Honourable Member representing the good people of Ilorin East/Ilorin South Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives under the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC).
At the House, he was appointed as the Chairman of the House Committee on National Planning and Economics Development. This appointment was premised on his track record and capacities.
Hon. Olododo who loves listening to good music, particularly that of the late doyen of Fuji music, Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister, MFR (1948-2010), is happily married and blessed with children, one of whom is Hon. AbdulQawiy Olododo, the enterprising Honourable Commissioner for Works and Transport in the current administration of the hardworking Executive Governor of Kwara State and Sardauna of Ilorin, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, CON.
It is pertinent to round this piece off by pointing to some unique records that Hon. Olododo holds, as he secures for himself a place in the history of Ibagun Ward, Ilorin Emirate and Kwara State at large. He is,in fact, the first of many. He is the first non-university graduate to serve as the SSG since the commencement of this current political dispensation. He is also the only former SSG, so far, who would be elected into the House of Representatives from Kwara State. He as well is the first to be conferred the prestigious title of Gaskiya of Ilorin and the first man from Okelele area and, in fact, the entire Ibagun Ward to be granted an honourary traditional title by the Emir of Ilorin.He is amongst the illustrious sons and, no doubt, the most politically accomplished from Ibagun Ward of Ilorin East Local Government Area, so far.
I sincerely felicitate with this man of the people on his appointment as the first Gaskiya of Ilorin and I wish him a very long, peaceful and rewarding reign.
Imam is the National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
