ABDUL GANIYU FOLORUNSO
ABDUL-RAZAQ: A
Fulfilled Patriarch And Statesman
By
Seye
Adetunmbi
For a nonagenarian statesman who served as the first Commissioner of Finance of Kwara State in
1967 when the state was created, served as a federal minister in Nigeria
and as an Ambassador to witness the inauguration of his son as the elected
governor of Kwara State, coupled with having a daughter who had been elected as
a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, this rare grace of God calls for
jubilation. The patriarch should be celebrated for the great thing God has done
in the family and put his profile in perspective for posterity and the delight
of those who appreciate good pedigree and lasting family legacies. Alhaji Abdul
Ganiyu Florunsho Abdulrazaq SAN, OFR, GOON (Ivory Coast) worked from inception
with others to give Kwara State a direction on the path of prosperity and deep
rooted development such that it will be a model state and justify the purpose
of its creation.
Consequent
to realising the reality that government cannot do it alone especially with the
challenge of the need to educate the young people of the state who will serve
the critical manpower need of the state, A.G.F. Abdulrazaq, the first lawyer
from northern part of Nigeria invested his personal resources to set up Ilorin
College, as a private school to provide quality secondary school education in
1967. He invited Dr Tai Solarin to work with him to set a template for a school
that will produce students that will be worthy in learning and character.
The
heart of gold with an uncommon spirit of giving runs in the family. Apparently
his children that I have dealings with took their giving spirit from their
exemplary patriarch to the glory of God. Ilorin College is now Government High
School, Ilorin after its takeover by the Kwara State Government. The College
was the first private secondary school in the state and the North Central.
AGF characteristically is more interested in
excellence, providing service to his people. That was what he did when the
first opportunity for him to show-case his endowment occurred in 1957 during
the London Constitutional Conference. He was the Legal Adviser to the Northern People's Congress, NPC, which had the
dominant representation from Northern Nigeria at the Conference. The Conference
decided arrangement for the governance of postcolonial Nigeria and drew up a constitution for the country.
For this exercise, the Northern Region was gravely
handicapped in terms of availability of indigenous Legal
experts to cope with the array of reputable legal luminaries which
accompanied the Eastern and Western Regional delegations to the
conference. The only indigenous Lawyer which the entire
Northern Region had then was the young AGF, who was only about two
years old at the Bar at that time. But
his strikingly impressive performance at the Conference bridged the gap and salvaged the fortune of the NPC
delegation to the Conference. So impressive was his
performance that Northern Nigerians in the delegations of the
other political parties at the Conference unofficially solicited his
expert legal advice to guide their own individual contributions at
the Conference. His brilliancy at the Conference
bolstered his fame throughout Northern Nigeria, particularly in Zaria
where he practiced as a lawyer. It was in appreciation of the
value which his practice in Zaria added to the historical fame of the
Emirate, and numerous selfless legal services which he rendered to the
people in the Emirate, that the Emir of Zaria conferred on AGF the
prestigious traditional title of Tafidan Zazzau. Soon afterwards, the
Emir of Ilorin conferred on him the equally reputable traditional
title of Mutawalli of Ilorin.
AGF as he is popularly called is endowed with an uncommon brilliance and an amiable
personality, wrapped up in magnetic mannerism. These virtues manifested in his children too. A man of lion
heart and an unbridled determination to succeed under daunting challenges, which characterized his early life in school and at
work as documented in his published biography. An extract from an
adaption of Alhaji A.G.F.
Abdulrazaq: A Blessed Patriot written by
L.A.K. Jimoh and published in 2018 is quoted here which underscores the footprints of Abdulrazaq dynasty, a testimony of record o excellence, and his place in history as the father of Kwara State.
QUOTE
He is
humility personified. Humble almost to a fault. A.G.F seems to be uniquely
destined to always be a “first”- the first child of his parents; first indigene
of Ilorin Emirate, in fact, of Northern Nigeria, to school in Eastern Nigeria (Onitsha
and Buguma) at both primary and secondary school levels; the first indigene of
the emirate to gain admission into a university in both Nigeria and Great
Britain, and the first Northern Nigerian to qualify as a lawyer and
barrister-at law. He is also the first indigene of IIorin to be honored with a
traditional title: Tafidan Zazzau outside Ilorin Emirate, in addition to being
the first to be conferred with the traditional title of Mutawalli of Ilorin by the
then Emir of Ilorin. Similarly, he is also the first Ilorin indigene to be
appointed Nigeria's ambassador to a foreign land and the first to be a Federal
Minister. He served as pioneer Commissioner for Finance and later as Commissioner
for Health in Kwara State from 1967-1972. He was one time president of the
Nigerian Stock Exchange, a position that birthed stock exchange activities in Kwara
State.
There was a volcanic political agitation that Ilorin and
the other Yoruba speaking people of both
Ilorin and Kabba Provinces in Northern Nigeria
be merged with the Yoruba-dominated Western Region.
The agitation was initially championed by Oba Adesoji Aderemi, the Ooni of Ife, in the 1940s. It was later
adopted by the Action Group and canvassed as
an issue at the 1957 London Conference as part
of the fears of minority groups in the ethno culturally
lopsided composition of the then three regions of Nigeria. The agitation
shook Ilorin Emirate to its very foundation. It was a political hurricane that almost blew off the emirate even
before the London Conference. Its promoter,
the Action Group, had deployed to Ilorin the
best of its propaganda machinery using the populist Ilorin Talaka Parapo Movement as a podium after the failure
of an earlier attempt to use the League of
Northern Yorubas, founded in 1952, for a
similar purpose. But for the agility and
brilliance displayed by AGF, which checkmated the
superlative propaganda of the Action Group, the agitators would probably have
won the day at the Conference. What they got,
instead, was a “consolation prize” by way of the decision by the Conference to set up a commission of inquiry to look
into the agitation and similar ones by other minority
groups in the Eastern and Western Regions.
The Willink Commission later sat in all the affected
areas across the country. The sittings in
Ilorin were dramatic and tense wherein the Action
Group/Talaka Parapo displayed, as usual, the best of intimidating scholarship and political showmanship which
was seemingly intended to cow the
educationally disadvantaged opponents of the
agitation. Again, AGF emerged as the Emirate's
saviour — his erudition and professional acumen;
his captivating oratory and genteel disposition
mesmerized both the audience and members of the Commission
of Inquiry. His bravado paid off immensely and
at the end of the day the best that the
agitators got was a mere recommendation by the Commission
that a plebiscite be conducted to determine the preponderant
wish of the people of the Emirate about the agitation.
The plebiscite never held. Another opportunity
to render patriotic service to his fatherland came
to AGF in 1966/67 when Nigeria faced the threat of an imminent disintegration. The threat necessitated the
summoning of a meeting of Leaders of Thought
in each of the then three regions of the
country.
The meeting of the Northern Nigerian
Leaders of Thought was held in Kaduna, in late 1966. Alhaji A.G.F.
Abdulrazaq and Chief J.S. Olawoyin represented Ilorin Division at
the meeting and both of them jointly made history by
respectively moving and seconding the motion that kick started the
abolition of regions and restructuring of
Nigeria into a federation of twelve states in 1967. Chief
J.S. Olawoyin, in his book: My Political Reminiscences 1948-1983 (1993)
succinctly recalled the episode thus: “I
was one of the five people appointed to the Northern Nigeria Leaders of Thought forum from the former Ilorin
Province and it was at one of the meetings that I moved a
motion that in order to forestall Colonel Ojukwu's attempt to
secede and weaken his position among the various and diverse
ethnic groups in the Eastern Region, states must be created
to liberate Calabar-Ogoja, Rivers State… “I added that in the interest of credibility for
the Gowon Administration, he should also create states in the
North in view of the long-standing demand for a Middle
Belt State…Alhaji A.G.F. Abdulrazaq, also from Ilorin Division
like me, seconded the motion with powerful argument and the whole
house accepted the motion in principle. A committee of
seven was immediately setup to look into the matter. The Committee
recommended the breakup of the North into six separate
autonomous states, including the Central-West State which was later
re-named, Kwara State some six months after it was created. Aihaji Sule Katagum, former Chairman of the Federal
Public Service Commission, presided over the meeting
at which I moved the motion. On the 27th July, 1967, twelve
states, including six from the North, were created to the joy of all.” One noticeable feature of AGF's life is that, to
him the adage that “opportunity knocks but once” is not
applicable. Instead, an opportunity occurred to him repeatedly
like a recurring decimal. He had yet an opportunity to play the
redeemer’s role for Ilorin Emirate in 1968 when he was the sole Ilorin indigene
in the cabinet of Colonel David L. Bamigboye, the pioneer Military Governor of
Kwara State. In that year, the Bamigboye administration
proposed a Local Government Reform, which abolished
Native Authorities and established Local Government
Authorities to take charge of the newly-created divisions - 12 in all.
Under the proposal, the erstwhile Ilorin Division, which was administered
by a Native Authority, was split into three autonomous divisions
namely, Ilorin, Igbomina/Ekiti and Oyun Divisions with headquarters at
Ilorin, OmuAran and Offa respectively.
While none of the proposed Local
Government Areas had its boundary stretching right from the city centre of the
headquarters of another LGA, that of the proposed Oyun Division began right from
the centre of Ilorin city. AGF argued powerfully in favour of boundary
re-adjustment. The facts which he tendered were so incontrovertible that the
State Government shifted the boundary away from the city centre but still
included Ojoku and Ikotun areas from Afon District. During this socio-political
evolution, Baba AGF Abdulrazaq workedclosely with other fellow compatriots in
both old and present Kwara State to pioneer the foundation and the development
of the present Kwara State. His fellow compatriots include the late Galadima
Patigi, the late Ahman Patigi who served as the minister of agriculture in the
NPC Government in the First Republic. Others are Chief J.T. Obaoye from the
present Ekiti Local Government who was a cabinet commissioner during the Bamboye’s
Administration and Chief Peter Olorunsola from Igbaja in Ifelodun LGA who was
the then attorney general and commissioner for justice.
UNQUOTE
Considering
the turn of events in Kwara State party politics over the past years, it is
natural for the situation of things to have given him some sort of concern and
his joy would be full with a sense of fulfillment now that his second born had
been elected as the governor of his beloved state. His generosity and community
service provided great opportunity for many people in the state to have access
to quality post-primary education which was not easy to come by then with the
establishment of Ilorin College in 1967. His selflessness made him a pathfinder,
a motivator and an enabler for the success many of the beneficiaries of his vision
have accomplished. He had lot of students that he was paying their school fees
despite the fact that he established the school. He went further to approach
some of his friends and corporate bodies to give out scholarships.
One
other unique thing about the distinguished Nigerian is that his early exposure
to education placed him at an advantage for distinct opportunities when there
were very few qualified people around. His appointment as an Ambassador in the
early 1960s for instance provided an advantage for him to put some historical
and political issues in proper perspective in Kwara State. In the interview he
granted in 2012 he is quoted thus:
Quote
In 1962, I was appointed Ambassador of Nigeria to Cote d’Ivoire and
one of those who met me at the port as part of the Nigerian community in
Abidjan turned out to be the father of Olusola Saraki, Alhaji
Muttahiru Saraki..... I observed that the crowd that came to meet me at
the port was divided into two and members of each group had flags of different
colours, saying: “Welcome, our ambassador.” One group had white and the other,
green. And they were supposed to be a Nigerian community welcoming their
ambassador. Then my secretary took me to my official residence, he was more
like a permanent secretary to me. Later, I asked him why members of the
Nigerian community that came to meet me were waving different banners and were
standing apart, not mixing. He said I was very perceptive. I asked if they were
divided and he said they were. He explained that the division was caused by a
fighting over who would lead the Nigerian community. When I asked who the
contenders were, he said one was called Alhaji Muttahiru Saraki, while the
other was Emmanuel Alabi. I told him that one of my first duties would be to
see Alhaji Muttahiru Saraki and Emmanuel Alabi. And I said I would
see only the two of them and not their supporters at 10a.m. the next day.
He brought in
Muttahiru Saraki, who sat on my right, Alabi on the left. I thanked them
for welcoming me on my arrival and told them that my secretary said that the
two of them were fighting over the leadership of the community. I said I was
not prepared to work with a divided community. I also told them that I had not
invited them to the embassy to hear why they were fighting. I said from
their looks, Muttahiru Saraki would be the older person. And because
of that, I said I was recognising him as the leader of the community. And
against my expectation, Alabi stood up and prostrated before Saraki,
holding his leg and saying: ‘I accept you as my leader.’ And I told him he
would be Saraki’s deputy. Alabi then asked for permission to say
something and I asked him to go on. He said nobody ever called the two of them
together and it was only their followers who were treating the matter that way.
And Alhaji Saraki also said he accepted him as his deputy. I
later thanked them and they went away together. Throughout my stay there as
ambassador, I went to the mosque to say my Friday prayers with Alhaji
Muttahiru Saraki. I’d go out of my way to take
Alhaji Saraki from his house and we’d drive to the mosque together.
After prayers, I also brought him back. Naturally, the relationship between the
two of us blossomed. Then one Sunday, my guard came and said there was an old
man who wanted to see me and his name was Saraki.
He then brought in
Muttahiru Saraki and we started to talk. Then he asked me where I
come from. I told him I am from Ilorin. Alhaji Saraki said he was an
Egba man from Abeokuta. By this time, I did not even know the existence
of Olusola Saraki. So, the man told me he was from Abeokuta, but he
went to a Quranic school in Ilorin at Agbaji, an area of reputed for Islamic
scholarship. The man, with his own mouth, told me he was an Egba man from
Abeokuta. And as of that time, I knew of no existence of any member of his
family. This was in early 1963. So, we carried on like that. The fact that I
resolved the problem between him and Alabi helped us a great deal for our
consular cases. As the leader of the Nigerian community and being older than
me, Saraki, at my request, always sat by my side wherever I went in my
capacity as Nigeria’s representative. At a point, members of the Nigerian
community were calling him deputy ambassador and he enjoyed that. Anywhere I
went officially, I took him along. When I was going to present my letters of
credence to the head of state (Houphouet-Boigny) I took him along, too.
Unquote
That was vintage the
Mutawalin of Ilorin and Tafidan Zauzau of Zaria for us, his leadership quality
is amazing. He went further with his encounter with the father of Dr Olusola
Saraki to say:
Quote
One Sunday, he came again and after entertainment with drinks, he
told me he had come to thank me. He said he had never met any human being, not
even his own children, who had honoured him as I had done and that he did not
even know how to show his appreciation. I said there was no need for all that.
That was in 1963. He then said that he had a son who was studying to be a
doctor in London and whenever he came home on holidays, he’d like us to meet.
One Sunday during the summer holidays, Alhaji Saraki brought Sola to
introduce him to me. And after they took their seats,
Alhaji Saraki started talking by saying ‘sir’. I told him to cut that
out because he was as old as my father. He then reminded me about his son he
said was in London. I stood up to greet Sola and he stretched out his hand for
a handshake. The father got up and slapped his face, saying: That’s my god you
want to shake hands with. You should prostrate. But I said we were both young
men, within the same age group. I made light of it, saying we knew how to greet
each other. That was how I met Sola Saraki. So, the father now said he was
putting him in my care. ‘Take care of him for me,’ he said. I told him that it
was good that as a young man, he is a professional. I advised him to return
home to participate in politics.
Unquote
He threw light on the
party politics in the early 1960s in Kwara State and how he became a minister
which is highlighted thus:
Quote
I remained in Abidjan till 1964, when my party, the Northern
People’s Congress, through my leader, the Sardauna of Sokoto, sent for me. He
said I had to resign because they wanted to appoint me a minister in the
cabinet of Tafawa Balewa. So, the Sardauna sent for me and said I was going to
be a minister in the next government. He said he would tell Ilorin people that
I’d be returned to the parliament unopposed. I was appointed minister in charge
of Nigerian Railways and I performed other functions, like being a confidant to
the Prime Minister. When I went back to campaign in 1964 to go to parliament,
with a view to be appointed a minister, Sola surfaced. That was two weeks to
the election. He told me that he had decided to heed the advice I gave him in
Abidjan to go into politics. I asked where he wanted to contest and he said
Asa. Asa is a local government that shares a boundary with Ilorin Central. When
I replied Sola, I admitted that I advised him to come into politics, but he had
come too late. In Asa, there was a member of parliament, Mr. Babatunde, whom
the party had decided to return unopposed. However, he said he would contest.
He went to Lagos
and brought some packets of medicine and he put up a mat and a hut in Asa and
started giving people injections. These were for people who lacked medical
attention. The whole of Asa local government had no hospital at all. If anybody
fell sick, they had to take the person to Ilorin. He started giving them cheap
medicine, thinking that it would win him their votes. He did not take into
consideration that one; there was a member of parliament on ground. Second, the
same man was being presented by my party. Also, he was going to be an
independent candidate. Naturally, he was defeated. That was his entry into
Ilorin politics. Then, he started visiting Ilorin, sharing money to people;
money that he had made from medical practice through the retainership he had
with the Nigerian Ports Authority and Ministry of Defence. At that time, the
army did not have a hospital or a medical department. The Air Force also did
not have any. So, whatever bills he sent to them, they paid him. So, he was
making constant visits, and building himself up.
Unquote
Alhaji A.G.F. Abdulrazaq
formally joined active politics in 1952. He was a member of Northern House of
Assembly between 1957 and 1960. General Murtala Mohammed appointed him as a
member of the 50-man Constitutional Drafting Committee in 1975. He seconded the
bill on the Presidential system of Government in the Constituent Assembly. He also
served as the Chairman of the sub-committee of the executive and the legislature.
He is one of the living legends of legal profession in Nigeria. His call to bar
was on February 8, 1955 and was enrolled to practice on April 1st,
1955. On the 29th of March 2019, the body of benchers honoured him
along with other one hundred and thirty one outstanding lawyers in Nigeria. The
Body of Benchers is a statutory body established by the Legal Practitioner Act
of 1962 responsible for the call to bar of persons seeking to be legal
practitioners as well as discipline of the erring lawyers. He is number 460 in
the Nigerian legal practitioners list and the first lawyer from northern
Nigeria.
He is married to Alhaja Ralia Amope Abdulrazaq. Mama, the matriarch of the family, is a beacon for women empowerment and a mother who spreads her wings to shade all and sundry. She broke societal barriers to girl-child education, being the first Kwara woman to go to college in the UK in the 1950s when it was rare for women in the UK to go to college. In fact, she is one of the pioneering women in Nigeria to go to college/university. Like her husband, Alhaji AGF Abdulrazaq, Mama also championed ground breaking movements, being the first person that organized the market people in Ilorin into trade groups, like eleran, alata and sewing associations in the 1960s. She remains a voice for the masses and a forerunner in humanitarian activities struggling through all the odds to stand tall among her peers to excel as a gender rights advocate. She was indeed the first woman councillor in Kwara State, first female sports promoter and the first woman to drive a car in Northern Nigeria. Hajia Raliah is also a foremost community leader, mobiliser and sponsor of several community-based associations known today as non-governmental organizations. She helped to educate many people who have turned out to be leaders in their respective callings. One of the very eligible lucky northern women to have received quality education in her time. Mama grew up in Aba, Abia State, under religious and parents who welcomed all itinerant Yoruba traders into their home. She carried on with these traits, always ready to accommodate young people, related or unrelated to her. Her children also manifested the distinct attributes of the woman of substance.
The marriage Baba and Mama is blessed
with successful children: Dr.
Alimi Abdulrazaq, a legal luminary and Chairman of Bridge School House,
Lagos; Rahman Abdulrazaq, the elected Governor of Kwara State in 2019, Senator Khairat
Abdulrazaq-Gwadabe, a notable politician; Mallam Isiaka Abdulrazaq, a distinguished
technocrat; Mrs Ayi Lawal, a stockbroker and a business woman and Alhaji Baba
Abdulrazaq, onetime local government chairman in Kwara State.
Apart from being the
father of my friends, some of his children, I had a brief remarkable encounter
with him as a stockbroker some years ago when someone asked me to go and see
him in respect of a stockbroking firm in which he had some interest. He
scheduled an appointment for me to meet him at his residence in Maryland,
Lagos. It was refreshing for me meeting the father of my friends, a statesman I
admire so much and spent brief quality time with him. Baba AGF is gentle,
suave, cosmopolitan, decent and an uncommon pleasant personality. I am happy
for the Abdulrazaq dynasty for the grace of having such a distinguished
Nigerian as a patriarch. He is a complete gentleman and interestingly,
virtually all his children have that aura of humility and gentle disposition
that endear them to their friends. What else can one say about a highly
favoured man, than to wish him good health and peace of mind in his old age
while also praying that things of joy he will continue to see for the rest of
his life insha Allah.
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