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The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III has appealed to Nigerians to always pray for their leaders even in bad situations.
Sultan, made the appeal at the University of Ilorin on Thursday while speaking during a public lecture and special book presentations in honour of Professor Is’haq Oloyede, the Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) who clocked 70 years of age and formally retired from the services of the University of Ilorin.
The books written in honour of Oloyede are entitled, “Islamics, Scholarship and Service to Society, A Festschrift for Is-haq Olarewaju Oloyede”, and “Glimpses into the Giant: A Tapestry of Tributes to Prof. Is-haq Oloyede at 70”.
The programme was organized by the KU8+ Consortium of Universities in Kwara State which the JAMB Registrar is the director of the Board of Trustees.
The Sultan said that Nigerians should stop the habit of cursing their leaders but instead urged them to rather pray for them no matter how bad the situation.
“Don’t curse your leaders, no matter how bad they may be, but pray for them. Never talk ill of your leaders. Even, if a leader is bad, pray for him.
“If you pray for him/her, Almighty Allah can make him/her turn a new leaf and make him/her a better person that you will enjoy. Don’t condemn your leaders. No matter how bad they are pray for them”, the Sultan who is the head of the Muslim Community in the country counselled.
The Monarch who announced the conferment of a new title of the Kuliya of Sokoto on prof. Oloyede said that he was always happy when he visited the ancient town of Ilorin.
The monarch who poured encomium on Oloyede, added: “Whenever I come to Ilorin, I always feel so much happy. I came to Ilorin for the first time in 1984, about 40 years ago as an Army Captain. We thank Allah for Professor Oloyede’s life and pray Allah to protect him. Though, he’s retiring from the university, he will continue to be useful to Nigeria and humanity.
According to him, he was happy that the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, had conferred the same title of Kuliya, (which translates as a Judge) of Ilorin Emirate on a legal luminary, Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN).
While noting that Oloyede and Ali are close associates who have many things in common, the Sultan said: “I hereby confer on Oloyede the title of Kuliya of Sokoto. I will send the letter of appointment to him as soon as I return to Sokoto.”
He said that he was very pleased to make this programme, adding “It’s very important. We thank Allah for Oloyede’s life. We’ll continue to ask him to do more”
The minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) who was the chairman of the event, also charged Nigerians to encourage their leaders to perform optimally and not to castigate all the time.
“I’m not saying that we don’t have problems, but when you begin to relegate or malign the country, I don’t know what you are portraying to the outside world. You may think you are doing them a favour but at the end of the day they would show you the way out.
“I agree, however, that among us we have some bad eggs and it’s normal even in the developed countries. So, what we need to do to minimize it, (because you can’t totally eradicate the situation) is to ensure that we put up a policy, behaviour, activities that will discourage things that will inhibit development and respect for the country”.
Also speaking, Secretary general of KU8+, Professor Francisca Oladipo, who is the Vice-Chancellor of Thomas Adewumi University, Oko, Kwara State, said that KU8+ is made up of all the universities in Kwara State, “to form network and partnership to improve on Tertiary education in the state, Nigeria and Africa”.
Professor Isiaq Oloyede, as the chairman of board of trustees, we could not think of a more befitting individual to take that role, giving his giant strides, not only as a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin and Registrar of JAMB, but as somebody who prioritizes the establishment of partnership and consortium among Universities, not only in Nigeria but Africa.
“Our objectives align with his objective of strength in number and he has been of support to us at individual universities. Being a scholar, we could not think of a better way to honour him than to have something permanent in his name. The authors are scholars and Vice-Chancellors from different universities across the world and these books would be in libraries across the world”, she said.
In his keynote speech, Professor Olusola Oyewole, Secretary General, Association of Africa Universities, Accra, Ghana extolled the landmark achievements of Oloyede as JAMB registrar and VC said he promoted the internalization of the University of Ilorin and created access to learners from other African countries like Sierra-Leone, Gambia and Liberia, who had been disadvantaged through civil war to come over to Unilorin for their studies.
“We offer our deepest gratitude, you have been a beacon of hope, a pillar of integrity and a champion of knowledge. Your legacy as a great knowledge diplomat from Nigeria will continue to inspire and guide us for generations to come.”
The two books were reviewed by Professor Afis Oladosu.
The event had many eminent personalities in attendance.
The governor of Kwara State, AbdulRazaq AbdulRazaq, was represented at the event by the chairman of Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (KWSUBEB), Professor Shehu Adaramaja.
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