By Abubakar Imam
Last Friday (October 4, 2024), a young, beautiful and smart Ilorin-born lady announced to the world the stuff the present and future generations of Ilorin people, particularly the women, are made of. She unveiled this not by words of mouth but through her excellent academic performance, which convinced all that she is actually better by far just like the University she attended. Her name is Zainab Yakub, who hails from the popular Orisankoko family of Ilorin.
Dr Yakub made her nuclear and extended families as well as the entire Ilorin Emirate and the women folk very proud when she emerged as the star girl at the induction ceremony of the new medical doctors recently produced by the University of Ilorin. Dr Yakub was the best of the new medical doctors.
She was the best of the new medical doctors as she excelled far beyond all her equally brilliant coursemates numbering 124. With her sterling performance, Dr Yakub proved that “what a man can do, a woman can do it better” and that “the place of a woman is not necessarily in the kitchen”.
She excelled in over 50% of her courses, which confirmed her dedication and hard work. Dr Yakub, who is a daughter of Barrister Yakub Orisankoko and Alhaja Mopelola Haleemat Orisankoko (nee Abdulquadir), was accordingly recognised for her exceptional academic performance.
To show his happiness with the performance of the young woman, a distinguished neurosurgeon and Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Health Sciences, Ila-Orangun, Osun State, Prof. Wale Suleiman, CON, celebrated her success at the event by rewarding her with the sum of five hundred thousand naira (N500,000:00) . The world class medical scholar said that the financial reward was made to recognise and celebrate the academic exploits of the new female medical practitioner.
This is in addition to the several prizes she won at the well attended event that was held at the University Auditorium where the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, and other Principal Officers of the University were in attendance. Dr Yakub also earned repeated standing ovations from her colleagues and distinguished dignitaries from far and near who graced the professional ritual.
Yours sincerely was not surprised with her feat. No one should expect anything less from a woman who hails from the famous Orisankoko family of Ilorin. The social unit is one of those that are reputed for learning and hard work. A further probe into her background shows that her mother, hails from the Oniwe segment of the popular Magaji Oju-Ekun chieftaincy family of Ilorin.
Her maternal great grandfather was Mallam Muhammadu Kuranga Alabi, whose prowess in learning gave his segment of the Oju-Ekun family its name of “Oniwe” (the learned) as he was also one of the earliest indigenes of that axis of Ilorin who had the privilege of obtaining western education at a time when that form of learning was “dreaded”. The late District Head of Alapa, Dr Shehu A. Kadir, was her maternal grandfather. Dr Kadir was the pioneer Headboy of the Provincial Secondary School (now Government Secondary School), Ilorin, when it metamorphosed into a full fledged secondary school. He held the position from 1954 to 1959. He was also a retired Permanent Secretary/Director-General in the Kwara State Civil Service.
Her maternal grandmother, with whom she shared a special bond right from her childhood, was Alhaja Khadijat Kadir. A classmate of the Talba of Ilorin and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin at the pre-primary segment of the famous Ansarul Islam Primary School, Okemale, Ilorin; the late Alhaja Kadir was one of his female contemporaries in Ilorin who excelled academically and professionally as well as in motherhood. This is shown in the quality of her children who are uncles to the new medical doctor such as my very good friend and brother, Alhaji Nasir Abdulquadir, a distinguished entrepreneur and polished media personality. There is also Dr Layi Quadri, a seasoned financial technocrat and proprietor of An-Nujoom Group of Schools, Oloje Estate, Ilorin.
What attracts me more to this young lady is her desire to always be a model not only in medical practice but also in life at large. In addition, i admire her courage and determination to be exceptionally different.
As soon as she inducted into the medical practice, Dr Yakub remarkably stepped into the “real world” by embracing the institution of marriage. She got married to her sweetheart, Dr Toheeb Nurudeen; on Saturday, October 5, 2024, which was a day after her induction as a medical doctor. This she did in compliance with the timeless admonition of Prophet Muhammad, who was reported to have said that “marriage is my tradition and whoever refuses to embrace it is not of me”.
What a great example! Her action is not only exemplary but also commendable in so many other ways that I would not want to explore in this hurriedly scripted piece.
Dr Yakub was born in Ilorin on September 5, 1999. She was educated at the famous An-Nur Primary School, Oloje Estate, Ilorin, whose proprietor is another pride of Ilorin Emirate and a former Head, Department of Religions, University of Ilorin, Prof. Abubakr Imam Ali-Agan, where she graduated from in 2009. Dr Yakub was subsequently admitted into Ilorin Comprehensive High School (ICOHS), Ilorin, a private secondary school established by the Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) in 1995. She obtained her Senior Secondary School Certificate from ICOHS in 2015.
This promising medical doctor was admitted into the nation’s most sought-after University, the University of Ilorin, in 2016. She made effective use of the opportunity by graduating in record time and for being found worthy in learning and character.
I wish Dr Yakub a very successful professional life as I also wish her a stimulatingly rewarding marital life.
Imam is National Secretary, Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union.
