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ILORIN IN THE HISTORY OF NIGERIA

A COLLECTION OF MY ADDRESSES 1987 2001

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CHAPTER ONE

WESTERN EDUCATION IN AN ISLAMIC TOWN, ILORIN, PROSPECTS AND

DEVELOPMENT BEING THE ADDRESS OF M.A. AMBALI ON MONDAY 2 ND

MARCH, 1987 ON OCCASION OF 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ILORIN

TH

GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

All thanks are due to Allah for sparing our lives to witness this big occasion
in the history of our School, Ilorin Grammar School. I seize this special
opportunity to congratulate late the Proprietors, Members and Board of
Governors, (present and past) the Principal, Mallam Toyin Akanbi, all his
predecessors in office, the staff, past and present, teaching and non academic,
the pupils old and current, and all who have, in one way or the other, made
positive contributions to make Ilorin Grammar School what it is today. I
appreciate the honour and privilege given me to participate in the twentieth year
anniversary of establishing Ilorin Grammar School. Thanks. Western Education
in an Islamic Town, Ilorin, prospects and development, is a well thought out topic
for an occasion of this nature. It will obviously make us cast a glance at the
history of Ilorin as a small Yoruba village under the suzerainty of (old) Oyo empire
and make us take another look at how it grew to become a force of great
magnitude that a newly installed Alafin had to herald his assumption of office by
sending to Ilorin that The new moon has appeared and Ilorin was strong enough
to reply the Alafins arrogant message saying, let that new moon speedily set.1
The topic will equally make us count the blessings of Ilorin as a young
community that provided home for people who were subjected to persecutions
because of their Islamic faith in neighbouring Yoruba towns such as Kuwo, Ilobe
and Ikoyi. We shall discuss how such people sought and obtained political asylum
 2

in Ilorin, how they enjoyed the freedom to practise their religion according to the
dictate of their conscience and how the brotherhood of Islam served as the
foundation upon which a Muslim Society was established, nurtured and grew to a
maturity of an Islamic and powerful Community to win for itself the glory of being
described by Professor T.G.O. Gbadamosi of History Department of University of
Lagos as
Islamic Lighthouse, a Local Mecca to which the Yoruba
Muslim turned for study and guidance2
Finally, we shall examine what people of Ilorin understand to mean
education and the effect of colonialism on their system of education. As a typical
Muslim community, we shall attempt to examine the rivalry between Islamic and
western education in the soil of non Arabian and non English but purely Islamic
atmosphere.
The location of Ilorin on the world map is 80o30 North and 4.35 East.
There are three possible explanations for the name of town but two keenly
recommended themselves: Ilorin means a place where sharpening of iron takes
place. Hermon Hodge, one time Resident of Ilorin Province in the colonial era,
reported that there was a large stone or stones where iron implements were
sharpened. He identified the location as Bandele Compound. The second
derivation is closely related to the emblem of Ilorin Grammar School. It is said
that the town takes its name from description of the area as Ilu Erin literally
translated the town of elephant, but preferably, abode of elephants because it
actually referred to a place where elephants are found. The second derivation is
strengthened by fact that Ilorin is in savannah region and elephant being a
grass-eating mammal. The earliest settlers profession was hunting. Till today
 3

Oko-Erin is well known around the site of Queen Elizebeth School, Ilorin and
Ilorin Stadium Complex. Experts in language prefer to accept the former to the
latter in the sense that it is easier to linguistically trace the source of Ilorin to
Ilo-rin than to Ilu-Erin.
I wish to make a clarification that Ilorin as presently known is in fact a
conglomeration of a number of villages each of which was not only on its own but
also was developing on its own before they all became integrated into an urban
city of Ilorin we know today. Among such villages which have been integrated
and urbanized are Abe Emi, (off Kamalud-deen Street, West Omoda) Oloje (near
Mount Carmels Grammar School) Ogidi, (area of Ansarul Islam Secondary School,
and Federal Government College), Gbako, (present site of Adewole Estate)
Atikeke, (near present Offa motor park) Fate, (part of the G.R.A on the way to
permanent site of University of Ilorin) Alalubosa (site of Government Secondary
School) and Osere (near the site of Atoto Press Limited). Ilorin where Ojo Isekuse,
Eminla, Laderin and Afonja operated happened to be one of these villages or
settlements that formed the present city of Ilorin.
The Crisis of Oyo
Oyo empire like any other organization, a nation or civilization, underwent
the usual transformation as theorerised by Ibn Khaldun, the famous scholar of
History. It had its phases of infancy and growth. It attained its zenith and finally
experienced the inevitable age of decay and decline. Although these are obvious
developmental phases that characterize all human civilizations, historians do find
causes to explain the rise and fall of an empire. Three major factors of the decline
of (old) Oyo empire are of interest to the spread of lawlessness, injustice and
corruption on the land and on the sea is a signal to the beginning of the end of
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any reigning power. (Q 30:41). The gradually degenerating disregard for the right
of the governed reached its peak after the death of Alafin Abiodun and during the
reign of Alafin Aole. As Samuel Johnson put it,
The cup of iniquity of the nation was full; cruelty,
usurpation and treachery were rife, especially in the
capital; and the provinces were groaning under the yoke
of oppression. Confiscation and slavery for the slightest
offence became matters of daily occurrence, and the
tyranny, executions and lawlessness of the princes and
the other members of the royal family were simply
in-supportable.3
The second factor of the fall of Oyo empire which is relevant to Ilorins
emergence as powerful emirate was the poor leadership that degenerated to
constitutional crisis in Oyo during the era of Aole. To consolidate his position on
the throne the Bale of Apomu was the first victim to be summarily dealt with for
personal and unjustifiable excuse. The latter sacrificed his life to save that of
Apomu Community.
The next victim was Bashorun Asamu whose failure to recover the copy of
Koran of an Hausa man for him despite the royal order that bit should be
recovered from those who robbed him his belongings, was interpreted as
indiscipline and disrespect the royal directive. It became a reason to incur the
curse of Alafin who invoked the wrath of Sango on the Bashorun. Owota, another
prominent Chief and his own share of the conflicts in the return of Jankalawa to
Oyo and the irresistible pressure on the Aole that he should deal with him for the
offence he had committed in the past before Aole became Alafin.
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The head of the army, Are Onakakanfo, in person of Afonja was another
personality Alafin did not want to see his face. The grand design to eliminate him
was to assign him the military expedition against Iwere, an impregnable and well
fortified place both by nature and art. The choice before Afonja then was either
to accomplish the impossible task within three months or commit suicide.
Although the mission was not disclosed to him till the army got to the gate of
Iwere. Afonjas intelligence network had brought the full details of the plot to
him at Ilorin This was a pointer to the degree of the loyalty (low or high) the
then Oyo authority enjoyed.
It showed how tight/loose the security was then in the capital. The master
counter plan was not unfolded till they got to Iwere and all the plotters were
taught the lessons of their lives. It was there that the Chief Opele of Gbogun
acquired his title Ari Agada pa Aburo Oba. A man who had a blade or sword to
stay the kings brother.4
The army ignored the royal order to call at the headquarters whether they
were victorious or defeated. Instead, his majesty received a covered calabash
demanding that he should commit suicide. He complied and cursed the nation.
As the crisis got to the peak and things hopelessly fell apart, Afonja, are
Onakakanfo, threw off the hegemony of Oyo and declared independence. He was
not alone in the belief that things have fallen apart,
Several other Yoruba community leaders such as
Adegun of Ikoyi and Opele the ruler of Gbogun also
tried to convert their local autonomy to outright
independence by carving out separate domains5
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The third factor was the movement for Islamic reform. There existed in
Oyo or Yoruba towns, Yoruba and non Yoruba Muslims such as Hausa and Nupe
Muslims. Although they were not socially or economically-highly placed, the
Muslims were vocal to challenge the excesses of the ruling classes. There was a
case when a son of Alafin died. His Majesty did not believe that the Oyo nobles
who came to sympathize with him were sincere because the smell at their hands
indicated that they had just eaten when he was fasting because of the
bereavement. He ordered that they all should be killed. A Nupe Muslim Scholar
called Baba Kewu could not stomach the injustice and sent his son to
remonstrate with him for his unjust and cruel acts in avenging his sons death on
innocent people, when his son had died a natural death. This he said is a sin
against God who took away the life of your son.6 Muslims became organized and
became distinct group through the way they dress. Parakoyi is a Muslim
titleholder who played significant role in the commercial life of the town as a toll
collector and as a Muslim leader next only to Imam in Oyo, Ogbomosho and
Oshogbo. The stand of Muslim leaders in Yorubaland notwithstanding whether
they are indigenes or not, on the injustices against the governed is obvious.
Naturally, they would react and they did. Muslim communities produced leaders
who intensified Muslim evangelization and reformist preaching. One of them was
Sheikh Salih who is popularly known as Alimi. He had travelled extensively in the
area particularly Oyo, Ogbomosho, Iseyin, where he spend one year, and Kuwo
where he spent a period of three years.
He moved and taught within the Muslim Communities and became very
much revered for his piety and learning. For his religious activities and popularity
he was driven out of Oyo by Alafin. He later settled at Ilorin.
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The Establishment of Ilorin Emirate

Another significant group of Ilorin Founding Fathers were the Muslims who
were present in Ilorin before the beginning of 19th Century. They included Hausa
traders and Fulani pastoralists who had came to trade but later settled in the
area. Amongst such Muslims were Bako, who later became Sarkin Gambari,
Uthman Olufadi, who was the head of the earliest Fulani pastoralists in Ilorin.
There were also Yoruba Muslims whose ancestorical origin stemmed from the old
Mali. Similarly, Okesuna formed a small village occupied by a group of Muslims
who migrated to Ilorin to protect their religious freedom. Thats why it was
popularly referred to as Oke-suna. Sheikh Adam Abdullah of Ilorin identified the
spot along the mini-campus of the University of Ilorin on the left as you enter
Ilorin from Ogbomosho and on the right on your way to Ibadan and Lagos. The
group was headed by a distinguished and pious scholar called Solagberu. Other
pious colleagues included Sheikh Shazili, Sheikh Muhammad, Shiekh Thanni the
grandfather of Basharu Adangba and a host of others. It was reported that Sheikh
Alimi was first hosted in Okesuna village for about a month before travelling to
Iseyin and Ikoyi. His arrival in 1817 was a significant turning point both in the
history of Islam and Ilorin itself as a Community.
Islam changed from private religion to state religion in the Society. The
magnetic personality of Sheikh Salihu won the attraction, recognition and respect
of all the groups who had earlier settled there and attracted followers and
admirers from both North and South of what is known from 1914 as Nigeria. This
marked the turning point of transformation of Ilorin from a village wrapped in
obscurity to a town destined to play a leading role in the history of Nigeria and
indeed West Africa.
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The recognition of superiority, of Sheikh Salihu by the settled pious scholars

in Okesuna was attested to by their giving him the title Alimi the learned. It was
reported that the earlier settlers had only the first volume of Tafsirul-Jalalain
while the second volume of it was given to them by him. Hence, they sought and
obtained his permission to copy it, learnt it from him and named him Alimi the
learned. The legitimacy of leadership was seized as a golden opportunity to
establish Ilorin Emirate. He obtained the co-operation of all the groups ranging
from his pupils, associates to companions some of whom were Fulanis, Hausas,
Nupes, Yorubas and Kanuris. They jointly sought the help of God to establish the
DAOLAH. They were unanimous to seek Gods favour by one month fasting in
which they would take only dates for the morning and evening breakfasts. It was
at the end of the fasting without taking meat or fish that they laid the foundation
of Ilorin Emirate, which most of us are proud to be its descendants today. The
prominent groups that formed the Founding Fathers of Ilorin today are the
Okesuna group, under the leadership of Solagberu, the Afonja followers and the
Muslim but none Yoruba settlers. The first and the last groups were loyal to the
leadership of Alfa Alimi. Historians generally refer to the group of non Yoruba
Muslims in Ilorin as Jamaa.
When the successor of Aole, Alafin Maku sent of Afonja that
New moon has appeared
Afonja sought and obtained the support of both Solagberu and Alimi groups
to sustain independence of Ilorin. As the power of Oyo was on decrease that of
Ilorin was on increase to subdue many powerful Yoruba towns such as Gbohun,
Edu and Ikoyi. Alafin Oluewu was first summoned to Ilorin but when he failed to
honour the second call Oyo paid the price dearly. Oyo then mobilized his
 9

supporters including Barubas. There was a call for assistance from Sokoto but
before it came Ilorin had succeeded to put the situation under control in a war in
which Ikoko as the leader of Borgawas was known was defeated at Ita Kudima,
near Pakat. According to Johnson Jimba pursued the routed army, sacked Oyo
and carried away various insignia of office including the egun dress and 100 brass
posts from Alafins palace.7 Earlier Oyo sent military expeditions to exterminate
Ilorin. The first was Mugbamugba war, Kaula war, Ogele war and Nupe war.
Ilorin was successful to defend its territory against all the attacks. The defeat of
Ilorin by Ibadan forces at Osogbo in 1838 or 1940 put an end to the expansionist
movement of Ilorin in the south. It then became clear to Ilorin that its ambition
to physically over run all Yoruba land was not realistic. She then resorted to
diplomacy of alliances among the Yoruba groups to ensure that the divided
Yoruba groups never had opportunity to unite against her. The manoeuvre
yielded the desired goal for Ilorin till the beginning of the colonial rule.
Colonial Administration
Ilorin army was away in Ekiti land when Royal Niger Company forces
crossed Niger at Jebba. They had to rush home from Orimupe to defend their
town, but with little resistance, Ilorin joined the list of British colonized empires
on Friday 16th February, 1897.
Association of Ilorin with the North
The cultural association of the majority of the people of Ilorin with Yoruba
is evident in so many ways: the indigenes who are of Nupe, Hausa, Fulani or
Kanuri origin speak Yoruba very fluently that a man of Yoruba origin cannot claim
superiority over them in matter of expression in the language. They have Oriki
and indigenous Yoruba name. In fact Ilorin Fulanis bear the latter more than the
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Yoruba themselves because while Bolakale, Bolajoko, Oluwatoyin, Omotayo ..

As time goes on, their eloquence or majesty of Yoruba is at the expense of their
original languages. Dr. S.A. Balogun said, in one of his papers on Ilorin
Equally significant is the strong Yoruba cultural
tradition in the area. The Fulani ruling dynasty has
been acculturated. The present Emir of Ilorin does not
understand Fulfude. His usual language of
communication is Yoruba.
However, a number of practices of these people refused to die with their
language in Ilorin. They remain the distinguishing characteristics that point to
their origin. For instance, you will not be left in doubt as to the origin of an Ilorin
man during his marriage ceremony when he talks of Sisa, Lali and some
interesting jokes they crack which are dated back to long history in their
associations. In the same manner, Ilorin Yoruba was largely influenced by their
township from the North. Hermon Hodge observed.
The population, as already stated, is predominantly
Yoruba, though it is now of so cosmopolitan respecting
its origin. Even Johnson the historian would have some
difficulty in deciding to which of his four great sections of
the Yoruba race these people may be said belong.
Indeed, it is doubtful whether it ever was capable of such
classification.
After from personal individual attachment of a large number of people of
Ilorin to different places in the North, documented official contacts of Ilorin with
Sokoto caliphate dated back to the reign of Abdul Salami. He wrote the Emir of
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Gwandu Muhammad Wanib Abdullai seeking certain legal (Sharia) clarifications.

Ilorin acknowledged the superior authority of the caliphate because it paid tribute
to Gwandu. The latter offered military aid to the former as occasions demanded.
It is on record that Ibrahim Khalil B. Abdullahi, the third Emir of Gwandu
personally led a joint military expedition of Sokoto and Gwandu forces to assist
Ilorin.8 The tradition of Ilorin looking towards the North, particularly Sokoto, her
religious and political association and fraternization stemmed out her affinity with
the people of the North. The associations began formally form the inception of
the Emirate through the colonial era up to the present day.
Introduction of Western Education to Ilorin
Ever before the imperialists introduced Western Education, Ilorin had its
system of Islamic and secular education.
The latter predated the former. Before and during Islamic era Ilorin had
engaged in a number of occupation was introduced to Ilorin, revealed that Ilorin
had about 92,000 farmers. A colonial staff remarked about Ilorin saying:
In spite of the size of the town, the term Urban can
hardly be applied to the population of Ilorin, so
constant is the movement between town and country.
Most families have both a compound in the town and
a farm in the bush and migrate from one to the other
for two, three, or four months at a time9 (emphasis
mine)
It gave the population of potters as 1,400, merchants 1,422, blacksmith
548, hunters 180, tailors 1,764, weavers 219 and traders who were mainly
women as 120,734. The traders had been with the people ever before the
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Islamization of the people. Islamic education was only introduced as additional

not in place of the training. Sheikh Adam Abdullah confirmed that the morning
period of the people was devoted to acquiring Islamic Education, the afternoon
was left for industrial activities and the evenings and nights were for commercial
activities when they sell their products.
This was the situation till the imperialists introduced Western Education to
Ilorin. In September 1914, one Mr. H.H. Annets assembled fifteen local mallams
to form the nucleus of the teaching staff. In 1915 a school of four classes was
opened headed by one Mallam Musa from Kano. In 1916 boarding system was
introduced. For the first few years western education was unpopular for several
reasons. Naturally, man is hesitant to embrace too new ideas. More basically
the fact that Christianity and Western Education are twin weapons of imperialism
in Nigeria Western Education was largely influenced by Christianity. The then
Resident of Ilorin complained saying:
More than one attempt was made to burn down the
compound, (school). Needles to say, education was no
more popular with the pupils absentees were the rule
rather than the exception; boys were continually
running away and no one could attend sick parade if
he could possibly help it. In the Department Annual
Report of 1920 Ilorin is referred to as the most
disheartening centre of our work.10
In 1920, Elementary School was opened and in 1921 the founding fathers of
Western Education in Ilorin, Mallams Muhammad Gobir and Usman went to the
Training College, Katsina. In 1928 Mallam (then) Yahaya Popoola (now Madawaki
 13

Ilorin) one of the surviving teachers of the Emir of Ilorin today, passed out with
flying colours from the College. It did not take long when the resistance ceased.
As the products of the newly introduced system graduated to take up strategic
positions in the society, the traditional and Islamic Education are seriously
challenged. The children of farmers, weavers, merchants and Mallams
abandoned the trades of their fathers in search of Western Education that
qualified them for white collar jobs. At that time, it was wise and lucrative. Poor
Nigerians, little did we realize that the education planned by the imperialists was
to serve the colonial interest in our land for the age of colonialism only. In 1960,
we obtained empty for hollow political independence. We did not and have not
yet realized that we need to liberate our mentalities, especially in the field of
education. We continue to ape Britain and America. We adopted objective
examination pattern and course system in our Universities because that is vogue
in United States Educational Institutions. Little did we realize that West has
shifted from using manual calculations to Computer Science? Even if there was
the temporary oil boom (doom) to purchase the Computers, we failed to
recognize that we need brains to operate and maintain the computers when they
develop problems. In due course, we over produced white collar job personnel
and unemployment problems failed all our cities and rural areas. The Nigerians
have lost the skills of their fathers and they did not master that their colonial
masters. Western Education makes us poor and hungry in the midst of plenty.
The resources abound everywhere but our education did not train us on how to
tap them. We have caps but we have no head! Our resources are itching for
tapping, but we have no money to employ expatriates and out universities
produce brigade of unemployables. This situation is not peculiar to Ilorin as a
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community whose system of education suffered seriously as a result of

colonialism. India was under direct British rule for a long period. North Africa
came under French rule and Indonesia under Dutch. Egypt and Iran had their
experience of colonial domination.
The difference in the results of the experience of imperialism on the
Muslim countries depends on:
(a) Whether a particular cultural region retained its sovereignty vis--vis the
European political expansion and whether it was dominated and governed
de jure or de facto by a European colonial power;
(b) The character of the organization of the religious leadership, and the
character of their relationship with the governing institutions before the
colonial encroachment;
(c) The State of the development of Islamic education and its accompanying
culture immediately before the colonial encroachment; and
(d) The character of overall colonial policy of the particular colonizing
power-British, French, or Dutch.
To face this challenge Muslim Scholars all over the world are sharply
divided into two groups:
The first group maintains that the acquisition of modern knowledge should
be limited to the practical technological sphere. They argued that Muslims do not
need Western intellectual products in matter of thoughts because Islam has
provided it. The second view is that Muslims should acquire western technology
and its intellectualism because no type of knowledge can be harmful. In addition,
science and pure thought had been cultivated by Muslims in the early medieval
centuries before they were taken over by Europeans. Majority of elite Muslims in
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Nigeria belongs to the first school. Whatever side we belong there is need to
appreciate the difference between mere acquisition of science and technology ad
cultivation of the spirit of scientific inquiry as demanded by Qur'an. We stop
giving the false impression that our brain is black because our skin is black.
Technology, western or eastern, is not to be transferred to us on the platter of
gold. They are not fools. We must realize that transfer of technology from west
or east means economic suicide to them. If they transfer it where are they going
to find markets for their goods?
The problems Western Education ran into in Ilorin like many other towns in
Nigeria today, cannot be blamed on Islam-far from that. It is the problems
western education and operated and executed, created for itself. It is planned
and operated without taking cognizance of the people for whom it is planned.
Professor Fred W. Riggs of the University of Hawaii remarked on us in the field of
public administration and said:
There is an old conundrum which asks: what is
the difference between a diplomat and lady? Answer:
when a diplomat says yes he means maybe, when he
says maybe he means no, and if he says no he is not a
diplomat. By contrast, of course, the lady means maybe
when she says no, yes when she means maybe when she
says no, yes when she says maybe, and is no lady if she
says yes. A derivation puzzle would ask how you know
what someone means who says maybe? Clearly, the
answer is contextual, for you must know who speaker is
to interpret his or her meaning.
 16

The conundrum is intended as a joke but it carries

an important idea which has been amply confirmed by
semantics and linguistics: the meaning of a word can
rarely be determined from the word alone but emerges
from the context in which it is used.
What is true of words is equally true of other
actions, for the significance of a behaviour is rarely
intrinsic to the act but can be learned only when the act
is interpreted in context. The general lesson that may be
drawn from these considerations is that the relevance of
administrative and other doctrines is contingent on the
total setting in which they are employed: what works
well in some places may lead to disaster in others. The
old proverb one mans meat is anothers poison
expresses the same thought in different terms. Yet, we
often act in our overseas programs as thought what is
food for one must be food for all.11
Compare parliamentary system in Britain and Nigeria (1959 1966) and
Presidential system in America and Nigeria (1979 198). We are all human beings
but the environments in which these systems operated make the world of
difference between their success here and failure there. The case of Western
Education in Nigeria is not different. The Answer to the problem is to tailor it to
suit style.
Thanks God bless.
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REFERENCES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1. The History of the Yorubas by Rev. Samuel Johnson, Page 196
2. The Growth of Islam among the Yoruba, 184-19081, Page 10
3. The History of the Yorubas by Rev. S. Johnson, Page 168
4. Ibid, Page 192
5. Dr. s.A. Balogun Aspects of Ilorins problems in Historical Respectives
(Unpublished)
6. Johnson, page 164
7. Page 68 of Ilorin Gazetteer by Horman Hodge
8. Tarikh Gwandu by Ahmad Sadu Alkalin Gwandu, Nigerian National Archives,
Kaduna, (NAK) SN P 15 Unnumbered series 1778/190 Paragraph 62
9. See Page 278 of Gazetteer of Ilorin Province. This observation strengthens
the case of those of us who insist that Ilorin, Asa and Moro are one family.
Creation of Local Governments is for administrative convenience.
10. Ilorin Gazetteer, Page 255
11. Pages 72 - 3, Frontiers of Development Administration
 18

CHAPTER TWO

ILORIN DESCENDANTS PROGRESSIVE UNION (I.D.P.U.) AND THE

CHALLENGES OF OUR TIME

BEING THE ADDRESS OF ABDUL MUTTALIB AHMAD HAnBALI ON THE

OCCASION OF THE FORMAL OPENING OF THE UNIONS TWENTY SIXTH
ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON WEDNESDAY 25 DECEMBER, 1991 TH

AL ARBIA, 20 JUMAD THANNI 1412 A.H.

TH

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

The Chairman, Hon. Justice Saka Yusuf
The Lady Chairperson Arch. Halimat Tayo Alao
The Special Guest of Honour, Navy Captain Mohammed Adebayo Lawal
The Special Guests; Alhajis Saka Saadu and Ayinla Olomoda
The Chief Launcher, Alhaji Abdulsalami Ayinla
The President, Ilorin Descendants Progressive Union, Alhaji Shehu Abdul Gaffar
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen
I do not find it comfortable to be in a straight jacket of being so flattered
and called Gust Speaker in an organization I am humbly proud to belong to by
virtue of my birth and I always consider myself a life member whose name cannot
be removed from the register and whose membership cannot be terminated.
This is because, I have no other place a call mine besides Ilorin. It calls for a lot of
caution and you have to watch it when you are called Guest in your house. This
strange or should I say, odd and tight circumstances in which I find myself makes
me appreciate the situations that lead some people to erroneously or otherwise ,
pray God Almighty to please deliver them from the scheming of their friends only,
 19

because they are capable of taking care of the machinations of their enemies. I
realize then that it is easier to know how to escape the traps of the enemies than
how to beat the tricks of the friends.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I have chosen, Ilorin Descendant Progressive
Union, I.D.P.U. and the challenges of our time as subject matter of my topic in
which I do not only protest but also refuse to be a Guest Speaker. Rather, I prefer
to play the role of a mirror in the dressing room of Ilorin Descendant Progressive
Union (I.D.P.U.). It is not open to debate because it is not challenged anytime,
anywhere and in any form that I.D.P.U. is the oldest surviving development
organization in our community. The Union is the catalyst that gives birth to other
development organization in Ilorin Emirate. The development organizations that
can claim to have been in existence before I.D.P.U. in Kwara State (old & new) can
be counted on our finger tips, if any. However, we must realize that being the
first is not as difficult as maintain the first position. I do not have the first place
within the whole of Kwara State until the target of being one of the best models
of the development organizations in the whole country is attained by the grace of
Almighty God.
The Union has every cause to reflect over its modest achievements and
thank God that it is the consensus that it is recognized as the advance party
of the army of progress and development in Ilorin. It spearheaded the
development projects such as, the re-construction of the Pakata road.
The pioneering-proprietorship of Balah Secondary School in Asa goes to its credit
and honour. Its modest secretariat houses by one storey building at the ends of
Kamalud-deen and Pakata roads, has served and continues to serve as the
meeting, melting and processing point of I.D.P.U. and non I.D.P.U ideas out of
 20

which a number of the developments have emerged. Ilorin Foundation and the
ongoing City Hall are classical examples of the product of Pakata Forum I.D.P.U.
is a conspicuous partner in the re-construction of our Multi-Million Naira Ultra
Modern Central Mosque. It played a leading role, expected of it to prosecute
successfully the Ilorin Chapter of Kwara State Industrial Fund launching ceremony.
Ilorin Descendants Progressive Union (I.D.P.U.) remains right from its
inception to date, not only a ghost but also a myth that polices the conscience of
all government functionaries from committing assaults on the rights of Ilorin
people. To avoid its wrath, it has become the tradition of the ruling classes to be
cautious on the interests of the seat of Kwara State Government. The invitations
of the sister development organizations spread all over the nooks and corners of
the state were responded to positively and favourably by I.D.P.U. on behalf of
itself and the entire Ilorin Community to promote the much desired cordially and
brotherliness between us and our good neighbours in the State.
The consensus over I.D.P.U. hardly goes beyond this point. As soon as your
survey goes beyond this point, the similitude of the image of I.D.P.U. becomes
that of the elephant in the popular Indian fable in which a number of blind men
were asked to touch different parts of an elephant on the part of it which his
hands touched. The first blind man whose hands were placed on the tusk of the
elephant said was like a big snake. The second man who touched the legs
described it, rightly of course, as a mortar and the third man who touched its ears
described it as tray. This represents the perceptions of different individuals and
groups of I.D.P.U. at different times and under different prevailing circumstances.
I am not competent and even it is not relevant to say anybody is wrong but the
genuine patriots in the Union, a word is enough for the wise. Ironically, the
 21

political leadership for example, in their age of infancy sucked the human milk of
the Union and later, for a brief time had good days of honey moon with I.D.P.U.,
but as soon as they secured in-road into the hearts of the unmindful people, the
Union is discard like the drugs whose dates of potency have expired. The part of
the political leaderships which did not win the heart of the bride does not regret it
today.
The common denominator is that any Ilorin man, conscious of development
cannot afford to be indifferent to I.D.P.U. He either agrees or disagrees with the
Unions styles, definitely, not its goals and objectives. I chose to regard that
disagreement itself as forward matching and because life itself is not static but
dynamic. As such man and human society should not be static but dynamic. One
obvious characteristic of dynamism is that it generates friction and in terms of
social values that means difference and very often dispute. Difference or
preferably let us say the right to differ, lies at the root of all issues involving
progress as it does at the root of all matters that involve inquiry, investigation and
research aimed at matching forward of a group of people constituting a society.
We must therefore not only recognize but we also have to safeguard the right of
the individuals and groups to differ, to question, to dissent town, Ilorin, to ensure
that our differences should act, react and beneficently. The differences may take
the form of politics, ideology, individual style or approach to any given problems
or to satisfy personal wants and desires or to fulfill the purposes for which the
society is established.
I venture to say that under no circumstances shall we allow these
differences (in the course of approaching our goals) to divert our attention from
what should be our common objectives and goals. A detached observer who
 22

watches us with keen interest will see the traces of our differences in the
organizations or let me say chain of development organizations we form, such as
the Resources Group, the Solidarity Club, the Ilorin Joint Ward Development
Association, Ilorin City Club, the Ilorin Front, just to mention a few of our a little to
the right and a little to the left organizations leaving few or nobody in the centre
of our development. Thanks to God, the differences of our perceptions and
approaches to the development in Ilorin had not been destructive to our common
goals. The million dollar question is why can we not put our heads and hands
together to work to attain the common goals? For instance, our reactions are not
only similar but indeed identical to the transfer of the headquarters of the Niger
River Basin Development Authority from Kwara State capital to Niger State
capital, the sad fate of Ilorin International Airport, the work on the ten thousand
line exchange digital which has stopped, despite that the building is ready waiting
to be equiped, the long awaited but yet to come Ilorin-Ibadan dual carriage way,
the way and manner the recent States Creation exercise took place in the country
and our fate in the subsequent creation of the Local Governments; to mention
just a few of the challenging incidents of our time.
It is in view of these and other similarly motivated events that I.D.P.U.
cannot afford to go into the state of coma for a long period of time before rising
to the challenges of our time. As the Central Vanguard Organization of our
development, the seemingly silence, if not inaction is difficult to understand. The
magnitude of the effects of the events are enough to make a dead person shake
up in the grave if he cannot rise and call for our positive action in unison.
Obviously, this is expected justifiably to be at the instance and initiative of the
I.D.P.U. with a view to designing a common strategy to rise to the challenges of
 23

our time as a people of common fate. I repeat for the sake of emphasis that the
cumulative effects filled our atmosphere with the clouds of fear, loss of
confidence in self and insecurity that called for the I.D.P.U. to play the unique role
of An-Najm Athaqib i.e. the star of courage and hope that pierces through the era
of fear, confusion and despair. We all waited in vain. For the I.D.P.U. to maintain
and justify its position of being that precious piece of flesh in the body of our
community development, whose activeness signifies the activeness of the whole
community and whose dormancy spells the passivity of the whole society, it is sad
and lamentable that despite our unique enviable position in the better life
programmes in the state, what our community benefits from the laudable
programmes does not show that we made the best use of the rare opportunity
that came our way. It seems, we have out of sheer frustration, put off from our
minds other perennial problems of our society and we have resigned ourselves to
the fate waiting for the heavens to help us when we do not care a hoot to help
ourselves. The dwindling numbers of our sons and daughters both in quality and
quantity in the Federal Civil Service and other Federal Institutions, the near
absence of our boys and girls in the academic and administrative sectors of the
University named after our community and other institutions based in Ilorin such
as the University Teaching Hospital, have ceased to worry us. We resort up
seeking golden fleece of admissions into the Universities in Sokoto, Kano, Jos and
Maiduguri because we have no place in the University built on our soil until our
guests are satisfied.
If a may ask, can we fairly put all the blames on the others without making
a critical and inward self assessment of our educational plights right from the
primary and secondary school levels? Which universities have places for the
 24

half-baked Secondary School products? Ask an average person to recommend the

best Secondary Schools for you in town. He readily mentions St. Anthony or
Cherubim and Seraphim Secondary Schools. They are both established in
Sabo-Oke. The primary schools where the pupils do not run shift are Bishop
Smiths Demonstration School in Offa Road, Wesley and St. James C.A.C. Primary
Schools. They are all established by our Local Government Education Authority at
the low density areas of Ilorin for our lucky guests. The children of the hosts
attend Ansarul Islam L.G.E.A. Primary School, Okemale and its likes established in
the high density areas where morning and afternoon session shifts are the
answers to their population to sit on the bare and dusty floors of the terribly
dilapidated buildings called schools.
Ladies and gentlemen, whether we look at the magnitude of our problems
vertically or horizontally, they appear to me to be too much for an individual or
group of individuals to assume that it can play the part of the all wise tortoise in
the Yoruba fables. It will amount to shirking our duties or adopting defeatist
approach to say that things will sort themselves out. If we say the time has not
come for all of us to close ranks, we are only waiting for the plantain to rot in the
name of getting ripe.
Conclusion
A way to conclude this address is to re-assure ourselves that our problems
are half-solved once they are identified and recognized. Our greatest problem is
disunity. It is my considered opinion that we cannot afford to waste our precious
time further on whether or not there is need for all the development
organizations in our community to come together to face our common
challenges. We cannot afford to embark on another venture of voyage of
 25

exploration of duplicating and dissipating energy to look for a new forum. Our
surest bet is to re-inforce I.D.P.U. to be able to rise to the challenges of our time.
To allow the charity to start from where it is due, the Union should recognized
and demonstrate that its leadership does not enjoy the monopoly of wisdom to
solve our multifarious problems. The Union therefore has to stretch its hands of
comradeship and co-operation and fling its doors open and widely to
accommodate all shades of opinions: the rightists, the leftists, the centralists, and
what have you. The Union should take the bull of our problems by the horns and
arrange a meeting of all the key development organizations with a view to putting
our heads and hands together to work for realizing our common objectives and
goals.
The Union should allow the far reaching re-organizations to enable it reach
the grassroots of the society whereby the Central Development organizations
strata will be based on the traditionally recognized boundaries of our wards. All
the Ministries and offices within the State, the Unions branches all the country
will serve as regular sources of collecting the Unions dues to ensure regular and
reliable income for development projects. The units based on wards in the town
should make good of the advantages the mosque units to ensure the involvement
of all and sundry in the crusade. Rights to participate in the elections should be
based on the payment of the years dues.
It is a duty imposed by the Constitution on the Unions Education
Committee to arrange public lectures and symposia for the purposes of
increasing the communities awareness of the importance of education. I venture
to say we have to go further beyond the scope of education because a society
does not grow or live on educational alone. The regular activities of the Union
 26

should not be limited to the annual rituals in December. A way to tap our highly
placed and gifted sons and daughters is to schedule periodic fora in forms of
lectures, seminars and symposia to generate cross-fertilization of ideas in all
spheres of our life; politics at mature level, the economy of our area, our history,
culture, religion, industry etc. It has to be planned ahead to cover a period of
every two months or no monthly basis from February to November, each year.
Finally, I sincerely apologize, if in this course of this speech anybodys ox is
gored. It is not intended by my friends who drafted me to the stage are
answerable for all the omissions and commissions. While they were refusing to
grant me permission to have my way to escape the task of being the Speaker,
they guaranteed me the right to have my say. This is my say in the manner I know
how to say it. May God grant all of us pardon and bless us all.
Thank you. God bless.
 27

CHAPTER THREE
ARABIC CONTRIBUTION TO CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN LITERATURE:
THE ILORIN LEGACY

BEING THE ADDRESS OF ABDUL MUTTALIB AHMAD HANBALI ON THE

OCCASION OF HE NATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE ASSOCIATION OF
NIGERIAN AUTHORS (A.N.A.) ON SATURDAY 27 NOVEMBER, 1993TH

I want to thank the organizers of the Convention of the Association of

Nigeria Authors (A.N.A.) for their kind gesture to invite me to address this august
audience. I must confess and right from the beginning crave for your indulgence,
if a fail to meet your expectation on this topical issue. The more I delve into the
topic the more I realize that it is a deep well, full of water of knowledge and the
more I realize that it is an ocean of research that the more you swim in it the
more you realize that you still have a long way to go. It is one of the tempting
topical issues that the more you know the less you feel you know about it. Added
to this is the scarcity of time at my disposal to prepare for the talk. However, I
promise you that, by the grace of God, I shall do my best.
The invitation hinted me that, It is expected that the talk will focus on the
literary output of the three venerable and influential Ilorin literary gurus who
have been identified as (1) Shaykh Muahammad Kamalud-deen Al-Adabiy
(2) Shaykh Abubakar Ibn Ikokoro and (3) Shaykh Adam Abdullahi Al-Ilory.
The Origin of Arabic
The combination makes the task difficult for me and very intriguing because
it arouses my interest and curiosity. I wish to take-off from the origin of Arabic
and its influence on the Arabs. The word Arabs in its primitive sense refers to the
inhabitants of Jaziratul Arab i.e. Arabian peninsula which is both geographically
 28

and culturally divisible into the North and South. Their dialects both in the two
geographical zones were originally called Arabic. In the South there was the
dialect of Yaman while the dialect of Hijaz dominated the North. The Arabs of the
North of the peninsula, unlike their Southern conterpoarts, and little or no
contact with the peoples outside their world. They were restricted in the North
by the Mediterranean Sea, in the East by Persian Gulf, in the West by Red Sea and
Gulf of Adan in the South.
It was within the North that Islam was born and it was the Islamic faith that
brought the Arabs of the North out of their shell and gave them the break
through to have contact with the outside world. It was then that the northern
dialect of Hijaz metamorphosed into the Linga Franca of Islam and over night
superseded its Southern Sister dialect of Yaman and became the Arabic per
excellence.
Generally, all over the world, magic carries the connotation of disapproval
but Arabs call their language a legitimate magic, (Sibr Halal) to express the
effects its rhythm, rhyme and music have on them. Sa Hebrev found the power of
expression in Psalms and Greek are credited for the power of expression statues
and architecture, Arabs found their power of expression in Ode, they call
Qasidah. They believe and say that the beauty of man lies in the eloquence of his
tongue. Wisdom, we are told has alighted on three things: the brain of the
Franks, the hands of the Chinese and the tongue of the Arabs1
A poet among the Arabs, had his function in the time of war or peace. He
was a moulder of public opinion, oracle, guide, orator, historian and spokesman
of his community and respected assessor of the rulers of his time. Shaykh
Badamasiy Ibn Musa of Agbaji in Ilorin used his knowledge of Arabic to play this

1
.. Arabs, 10th Edition, The Macmillan Press Limited, London, Pages 90 - 91
 29

role against the ruler of his time who attempted to seal the mouths of the Muslim
preachers in Ilorin.

**

**

**

**

Meaning:
Our silence in this manner without
enlightment is a similitude of remaining in
darkness without lamp.
Our dear ruler, is it proper for us to
abandon the men without knowledge to go
astray? Our God ordered those of us who
called to the way of God to let there be among
them a group who will be calling to the way of
Allah. It is for ever so in our scripture. Have a
look at your Qur'an, dear Emir.2
History of Ilorin
 30

The author of the History of the Yorubas, Reverend Samuel Johnson

(Anla Ogun) classified Ilorin as one of the three peculiar Yoruba towns. Its other
peculiar sister towns are Ibadan and Abeokuta. He lamented the odd situation in
Ilorin peculiarity saying:
2
How
Adam Abdullahi it came
Lamahal about
Balawir that Ilorin
fi Masharil Ulama,aPage
pure37 Yoruba town and one
time the third city in the kingdom fell into the hands of
aliens and to this day allegiance to other than its rightful
sovereign but to this day the principal market and the chief
mosque of the town remain still in front of the house of the
founder and the rightful owner of Ilorin.3 (Underlining
mine)
This opinion remains correct and incontrovertible as long as we limit our
consideration to the dominance of Yoruba as the language of Ilorin Community.
I opine, however, that the sentiments expressed by the learned author did not
take cognizance of the fact that it is not all the time that the language spoken in a
society serves as bona fide criterion to determine the socio cultural life of the
society. Ilorin is a good example.
The students of Ilorin history are unanimous that it was a very small village
founded towards the tail end of 18th Century, say 1780 about thirty years before
the coming of Sheikh Salih Alimi, may Allah be merciful with him. The earliest
settler was Ojo Isekuse, a hunter from Ilota, followed by Eminla, then another
hunter, Dada, who settled at Okelele and later, Afonja, the Kankanfo, joined
them, of great significance to our discussion and general history of Ilorin was a
group of Muslims who settled in what is today known as Ilorin before the
beginning of 19th Century. They chose Okesuna as their place of abode. Okesuna
 31

was the place of abode of all those who opted to live individually and as a group
according to the dictates of Islam. Suna is an Islamic term which means the
Muslim way of life. These people did not constitute part of the people of Ilorin
Rev. Johnson had in mind when he talked of Ilorins peculiar. He said:
There were several towns and villages around at no very
great distance from Ilorin, e.g. Kanla, Okesuna, Ganmo,
Elerinjare, Idofian, Oke-Oyi 4
Alhaji Adam Abdullah Al-AIlory identified the spot of Okesuna along the
present site of the mini Campus of University of Ilorin. The head of the Okesuna
Muslim Community was a distinguished and pious scholar Atahiru Solagbery. The
arrival Sheikh Salih Alimi in 1817 was a significant turning point both in the history
of Islam and Ilorin itself. The former changed from private to State religion. The
magnetic personality of Sheikh Salih Alimi won the attraction, recognition and
respect of all the groups who had earlier settled in and around the place known as
Ilorin today. His personality also attracted followers from both North and South
of what became Nigeria.
This influx marked the turning point of transformation of Ilorin from a
village wrapped in obscurity, to a town destined play a leading role in the history
of Nigeria, especially in the spread of Islam to where it was not known in
Yorubaland and its consolidation where it has reached.
Sheikh Salih Alimi sought and obtained the co-operation of all the groups
ranging from his pupils, associates to companions, some of whom were Fulanis,
Hausas, Nupes, Yorubas and Kanuris to establish an Islamic society, named Ilorin
Emirate. New Ilorin was an amalgamation of the Okesuna group, the Fulani group
headed by Olufadi, the Gambari group under the leadership of Bako and the
 32

Yoruba group of Afonja, Ojo and Dada. They were unanimous to seek Gods
favour by observing one month voluntary special fasting in which they fed only
fruits and plants. With this background, it is difficult to agree with Rev. Johnson
that Ilorin is being ruled by aliens and that its allegiance was misplaced. This is
because Ilorin has undergone a change from tribal community to a Muslim
society. Hogpin observed:
The population, as already stated, is predominantly
Yoruba, though it is now of so cosmopolitan a character
as so defy classification respecting its origin. Even
Johnson the historian would have some difficulty in
deciding to which of his four great sections of the Yoruba
race these people may be said to belong. Indeed, it is
doubtful whether it ever was capable of such
classification; it probably grew at an early date to be a
town of refuge to all and sundry in times of unrest.
Ajikobi and Alanamu are definitely Yoruba wards, as are
the Ibagan and Okaka sub-wards of the Gambari and
Fulani wards respectively. The Emirs ward and two of
the sub-wards of the Fulani Ward possess Fulani rulers,
and three sub-wards of the Gambari ward a Hausa
administration; but in none save Zongo and Karuma in
the Gambari ward, essentially Hausa quarters, does any
but the Yoruba predominate among the ordinary
population.5
 33

The most conspicuous legacy of the Founding Fathers of Ilorin was their
reflection of the statement credited to the Prophet, peace be on him, that: Two
classes of thirsty people cannot be satisfied: the seekers of knowledge and the
seekers of the material wealth. As they belonged to the former, they spared no
effort to seek knowledge. A Yoruba student seeking the Islamic knowledge from a
Fulani and Hausa Mallam has to first learn the mother tongue of his teacher to
remove the language barrier between the pupil and the teacher, though later, the
5
Ibid, Hogpin, Gazetteer of Ilorin province Page 272
teachers mastered Yoruba, the domino language of the society. It must be
mentioned that the knowledge was sought for the understanding of the religion
and its practice and not for economic purpose. This was why it did not stop their
economic and commercial activities. The mornings were devoted to teaching and
learning, while the afternoons were left for weaving, farming, cap making,
blacksmithing, embroidery and other craft works. The evenings were left for the
commercial activities to sell their products. Thursdays and Fridays were the
weekends and as such the marriage merriments were fixed traditionally for that
period of the week.
The Muslims take the knowledge of Islam as Amana i.e. a responsibility
which should be discharged by its practice and dissemination. This made the
propagation of Islam through learning, teaching and preaching another legacy of
the founding fathers of Ilorin. I want to classify their efforts into the home and
the expansionist sectors. Many Scholars established Arabic Schools in their
respective houses to discharge this onerous responsibility. A school of specialists
in Islamic jurisprudence, Tafsir Quranic exegesis and Hadith was established by
Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Baygore (1913d) Ahmad Ibn Abubakar was a product of
the Al-Baygore School.
 34

Ahmad Ibn Abubakar

In compliance with the traditional modesty of Ilorin, I shall deal first with
the oldest of the three personalities of our focus, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Abubakar.
His family house is Ile Ikokoro in Aluko. A reliable source puts his birth at about
1870. He was a pupil of number of distinguished scholars in Ilorin and finally
Shaykh Muhammad Baygore. He travelled far and wide within Nigeria and
through self efforts, and despite the common and understandable cold attitude of
the people of his age to Western Education, the sage acquired literacy in English
both from Lokoja and Lagos. The genius never visited any Arab land nor had the
opportunity of formal education in any regular school, yet he attained enviable
mastery of Arabic as reflected by his works: both prose and poetry. He had his
education through the traditional method and had no contact whatsoever with
any Arab. Like he was a product of knowledge from many scholars he produced a
number of scholars. On the list of such pupils of his were the great preacher
Shaykh Muhammad Bello Ajongolo, Shaykh Salahud Din from Ikoyi, Shaykh Nalah
Olosun, Shaykh Abdul Salam Fagba who later established at Ijebu Ode, Shaykh
Hanbali, Shaykh Abubakar of Sakama, his scribe and Shyakh Abdul Hamid, one
time Imam Imale, who was second in command in the hierarchy of Imams in
Ilorin. He distinguished himself in both writing in prose and poetry. Firstly, on the
request of Shaykh Abubakar of Ita Akanni, in Lagos he wrote his book called
Iltiqat Al Mutun in five branches of Arabic. The book dealt with Nahw, Grammar
Sarf, Etomology Maaniy, Semantic Bayan, Eloquence and Badi, Esthetic.
Secondly, his most popular book is called Talif. Its full and real name is
Akhbarul Qurun min Umara Balad Ilorin, meaning, The record of the events of
the tenures of the rulers of Ilorin. The ten chapters of the book briefly traced the
 35

history of Ilorin from the inception up to the reign of Amir Sulayman. It was
completed in Rabil Awwal 330 AH/corresponding to 1912 C.E. It discussed the
great events of each of the first six Emirs of Ilorin; their Imams, Judges and other
key officers of the Emirate. The sage was criticized for writing on the Emirs rather
than the Scholars. It might be true but the Emirs roles dominated the Society and
their chronology provided the convenient order to follow to determine who was
that at each Emirs time. Many events in those days were dated by time of the
rulers. We should not forget also that the Emirs were themselves scholars.
Thirdly, one of his poems that history retains for us was in praise of his
friend and master Alhaji Muhammad when he was appointed to Wazir in 1922 in
Bida. The forty line poem is attached as Annex A
Fourthly, we are in the possession of Ratha eulogy he composed on Imam
Harun, a distinguished Scholar from Ibadan who died in 1935.
Finally, out of what is at our disposal is the Qasidah, Ode, he composed in
1930 Edul Adha festival when he received a gift of a gown from the Amir
Abdulkadir who ruled Ilorin from 1919 to 1959. The Qasidah was 18 lines
composed to express thank and reciprocate the Emirs gesture. See the
annexure.
Shaykh Ahmad Ibn Abubakar left nobody in doubt that he was a genius of
all the times. He produced great scholars and left indelible marks of piety and
Scholarship in the sand of history. Interestingly all the poetry works compared
with the prose in Talif revealed strangely, greater power of expression in the
former than latter.
 36

It is equally curious to want to know why Talif stopped in 1912 in the reign
of the sixth Emir while there is abundant evidence that the author lived to witness
the era of the nineth Emir.
Alhaji Muhammad Habibullah Kamalud-Deen
Taking the historical incident in which Balogun Biala, one time Balogun
Ajikobi was deported as basis the birth of our second personality was fixed
around 1907. The father of the figure under focus Mallam Habibullahi of
Ara-Agbaji compound, Ilorin lived on weaving and embroidery and trained his
child in the trade. He sent him to Shaykh Salahudeen Babata, Ilorin to obtain the
rudimentary lessons of Qur'an. Against the wish of his father, a Muslim Scholar,
whose family house is next but one to Aragbaji compound enticed the child for
reasons not immediately appreciated nor disclosed until much later as unfolded
by the subsequent events. His colleagues in the care of Shaykh Muhammad
Jumua Al-Labib, included Shaykh Imam Yahaya Adefila who spread the
knowledge of Islam in Ibira land. Shaykh Salih one time Imam Imale of Ilorin and
Alfa Salman Omoda otherwise popularly called Alfa Ake i.e. going by the area
where he established in Abeokuta and Alfa Zakariyyah Omoda who taught the
founder of the militant group who have a special way of putting on their turban
and generally referred to as Makondoro group.
When Shaykh Adam had cause to record the achievements o Shaykh
Muhammad Kamalud-deen, he described him as Ujubatuz Zaman i.e. wonder of
the time. He reflected on the incident when his teacher ordered him to take
charge his public air sermon at the tender age of fifteen. He said and I quote:

 37

.
By the virtue of performance, he has become one of the
great signs of God, one of the wonders of the time and
an evidence of the greatness of his teacher, Tajul Adab.
This is because he is the first to attain the height of
academic excellence at his age throughout the Yoruba
land and indeed the whole West Africa at that time.6 He
used three distinguished geniuses to illustrate the
greatness of Alhaji Muhammad Kamalud-deen: Imam
Shafiy, Ibn Tiamiyah and As-Suyyutiy who attained such
a height by or before they were twenty. He argued that
their case are distinguished from that of Shaykh
Kamalud-deen for a number of reasons. Imam Shafiy
lived in Makkah and learnt from Shaykh in charge of the
sacred Mosque, Kabah, before going to Madina to learn
from Imam Malik. Ibn Tiamiyyah was a child born unto
the family of scholars. For As-Suyyutiy, he explained
that his nickname was the child of books. His mother
was looking for a book for her husband in his library
when he was delivered right inside the library. The big
contrast in respect our personality is that, unlike all
these giants of Islamic knowledge, he was typically from
a modest origin of unlettered parents, who learnt from a
non Arab and grew in a non Arab-environment. Yet he
 38

attained that height at that tender age. He cannot be

called but one of the wonders of our age.
It is setting oneself unaccomplishable task to attempt to list his pupils
because there is no town or village in Yoruba land that you will not find his direct
pupils or those who learnt from his disciples. It is said that he is of critical mind
and meticulous and applies the principles on himself and his writings to such
extent that most of his works are not within easy reach of the members of the
6 public. Yet theLamahal
Adam Abdullahi sharpBalawir
eagleFieye of research
Masharil of69Alhaji Adam Abdullahi availed us
Ulama, Page

with one of a Shaykh Kamals precious works. It is the poem he wrote in 1945 to
receive the then Emirs of Ilorin and Bauchi, when the latter paid the former a
royal visit and the latter made the former pay a visit to Alhaji Kamals school as a
model of excellence. Part of it reads as follows:

**

**

**

**

**

 39

**

Meaning:
The moons of greatness, who are of pure origin and
generous appeared to visit the great school. They are the
ruler of Ilorin and visiting ruler of Bauchi of great honour.
He was accompanied by Waliy i.e. Attorney, may God
protect him. He was also accompanied by the upright
Chief Judge. So was Imam Mahmud .. I thank you for
your gifts and pray God to grant you journey mercies.7
To his credit was the revolution in the approach to teaching and learning
Arabic from the traditional method to introduction of textbooks, classes,
examination
7 e.t.c. He introduced the reforms in Lagos in his school Az-Zumratul
Ibid, Page 71
Adabiyyah in 1926 and later established its sister school at Ilorin in 1938.
The appraisal of his contribution is best given in words of Alhaji Adam
Abdullahi who said:

.




Meaning:
 40

Muhammad Kamalud-deen attained the height of the

knowledge of Arabic in such a manner that he
constituted a challenge to all his contemporaries. He was
endowed eloquence in preaching and delivering lectures
that those who had been in field before him could not
excel him and gave big challenge for those who came
after him. He maintained that status for of Century.
He had no rival throughout the length and breadth of
Yoruba land. He . for his contemporaries
that there is no one that he did not influence as there is
no one from his town who did learn something from
him.8
Sheikh Adam Abdullah Al-Ilory
It is enough to say that substantial materials I used to prepare this paper
were collected from the works of the third personality of our focus, Alhaji Adam
Abdullahi Al-Ilory. His full name is Shaykh Adam Ibn Abdullahi Al-Baqiy Ibn
Habibullahi Ibn Abdullahi. His grandfather, Habibullahi came to Ilorin from Oyo in
the company of Atiba. He finally settled around 1820 at Omoda to join hand with
Olomoda to build Olomoda Mosque. He was its first Imam. Abdullahi gave our
personality his name to seek the blessings of Shaykh Adam Alanamu who was his
maternal grandfather. His father was itinerant Mallam who travelled as far as
Benin Republic. His wife, the mother of our figure was a princess in Benin
Republic. The sage was brought to Ilorin in 1929. His father took him to big
Muslim Scholars in Ilorin, Bida and Benin Republic to seek Gods blessings for him.
His teachers included Salihu, the son of the teacher of his father, Alhaji Umar
 41

Agbaji who was based in Lagos and Shaykh Adam Namaj. He had interactions
with Arabs who visited Nigeria then. Shaykh Adam Abdullahi was substantially
self-made personality as it reflected in his written works. He was not only a
prolific author of several books in history, philosophy, mysticism and evangelism
but also an imposing and buoyant personality, strong character with the gift of
eloquence and courage. His father, himself a scholar spurred him to develop
interest in history, the home base Ilorin challenged him to be bold and frank
speaker as the love for writing can be traced to his most popular teacher Adam
Namaj, that he often quoted. His books mostly in prose numbered over seventy
according to one of his students in whom I have confidence. This is not in doubt
because he personally wrote the text books on all the fields for the Markaz at
Agege which has turned out hundreds of thousands of distinguished scholars of
Arabic and Islamic Studies, who pass through his hand and through the hands of
his products. The Mother Centre, Markaz Talim Arabiy and Islamiy, Agege has
produced similar centres all over Yoruba land disseminating Arabic.
A close study of over 70 books of Alhaji Adam Abdullahi will reveal that his
interest was in the following:
(i) Learning and teaching Arabic as depicted by the text books on learning
and teaching, of Arabic which he wrote for Markaz Agege which was
established since 1952 and continue to produce Arabists till today.
(ii) History is reflected by his book on the distinguished scholars of Ilorin
right from inception. Other books of history included his book short
History of Islam in Nigeria and The History of Islamic Evangelism.
(iii) Philosophy represented by Athar Falsafah, Tasawy and Ilm.
(iv) Evangelism party by As-sawma and Fitr and partly politics
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(v) Tarikh Dawah illallahi, partly history and partly evangelism

(vi) Politics, Islam Alyaom wa gada fi Nigeria talks mainly of politics of
Northern and Southern Muslims in Nigeria.