Rafiu Ajakaye, PhD.
On Wednesday, September 16, history will be made as His Excellency Kwara State Governor and Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) Chairman Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq (CON) will be turbaned the Sardauna of Ilorin. We are grateful to Almighty Allaah and to His Royal Highness Mai Martaba Emir of Ilorin Dr Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR, for this rare honour.
Africa’s most outstanding Sardauna of all time is the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, a prince of the Sokoto Caliphate and the only Premier of the Northern Nigeria.
There was something unique about the late Sardauna: not only was he known for his infectious love for Arewa; the Sardauna was a folk hero among northerners for how he welded the north together with equitable development and his support for everyone who called the North their home. Many of our late fathers and mothers from the old Kwara State were proud protégés of the late Sardauna.
AbdulRazaq is not an Ahmadu Bello. But the unrivalled rise of Ilorin in modern infrastructure, his investment in his aides, and the spread of development to every part of the state aptly earn him a right to be called the Sardauna of Ilorin, succeeding the late business mogul and philanthropist Alhaji Umaru Saro who first held the title in Ilorin.
On February 6, 2025, I wrote a piece entitled ‘A Sardauna’s Path in Kwara https://kwarastate.gov.ng/press_releases/a-sardaunas-path-in-kwara/amp/) to spotlight the strides of Governor AbdulRazaq and Chairman of Forum of Regions of Africa (FORAF) in Kwara State. I had also mentioned how the Governor is such a down-to-earth but self-effacing personality who really doesn’t take himself too seriously. As an aide and someone young enough to be his son, I recall instances that I tried to give him the ‘distance’ that I felt befits the exalted office of the Governor, especially during meal times. I recall many times in Nigeria and abroad that he would gesture to me to come sit next to him to eat on the same table. When he isn’t quietly eating his food, he would raise issues of governance and development which often leaves me convinced of his good intentions for our state and why he does some things that he does.
At no time did he pretend to be a perfect person or feign not having his own sentiments. But something again stands him out: he is almost a fatalist. That does not mean he does not try his best to fix things within his capabilities, but he is quick to tell me: ‘regardless, what will be will be’.
He is a very deep human being — as deep as the sea. His signature silence, which his detractors use to attack him, appears to me to be his own interpretation of the words of Umar (may God be pleased with him), who reportedly said: “I have never regretted my silence; as for my speeches, I have regretted over them again and again.”
On one afternoon in the early days of 2022 at the Presidential Lodge, I had asked him why he was contemplating another high-rise hotel and an international conference centre a few metres away from the iconic Kwara Hotel, which he was also transforming in a way no one has done since the 1970s when it was built. He looked up and asked if I had been to Dubai before. Of course, I had visited many cities and countries of the world, but the UAE wasn’t one of them. He didn’t answer my question. He only asked me to prepare to attend a conference later in May that year. I attended and I never bothered to ask him that question again. I got my answer— and a lot more.
He is a man who has truly benefited from his many travels to cities of the world. The Kwara Smart City project is partly modelled after the New Delhi (India), Washington DC, or Upper Cairo. He felt Ilorin is filled to the brim and its inevitable expansion must be planned to ensure sustainable living for the people. The tragic June 15, 2020 incident in Ilorin tells us a painful story of how not to allow cities to grow without regulation. That partly bred the Ilorin City Master Plan, an offshoot of which is the urban renewal initiatives and the Kwara Smart City project which is projected to host at least 500,000 residents over the next decades.
A few years after, Ilorin, our capital city, has become far more accessible, viable, alluring, and enterprising than at any time in its contemporary history. That is one of the many legacies of the Sardauna. Many parts of our state have become more accessible with state and rural roads, whilst the 294km tax credit roads he facilitated are things for posterity.
The Sardauna of Ilorin is simple enough to relate with anyone, whatever their class, and he is deep enough to steadily transform Kwara to an economic powerhouse in Northern Nigeria, rising above the old tag of being a civil service state. This has never been so at any point in our history.
He is a reliable friend of the underprivileged, a champion of gender parity, and a promoter of equitable education. His Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP) and the free health insurance, both of which he activated, have cumulatively benefitted at least a million residents. Like the late Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Ilorin gave ordinary people a reason to believe that Kwara belongs to all. You can ask the 8,912 teachers he has hired, among others.
His love for culture, history, geography, and sports is a topic for another day!
As His Excellency is deservedly turbaned the Sardauna of Ilorin, my family and I send our heartfelt congratulations to a man of courage, strong conviction, and great vision with a seemingly inexhaustible dosage of patience.
▪︎ Dr. Ajakaye, former CPS to the Governor, is the APC House of Representatives Candidate for Ifelodun/Offa/Oyun Federal Constituency