Egbewole, Oloyede grace Adabiyyah centenary celebration
By Abubakar Imam
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, and the immediate past Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Emeritus Is-haq Oloyede, CON, were among several dignitaries from all walks of life that attended the grand finale of the centenary celebrations of Az-Zumratul Adabiyyah Kamaliyyah School of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Ilorin.
The event, which took place at the premises of the Muhammad Kamalud-Deen University, Ogidi, Ilorin, was also attended by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Saad Abubakar III, CFR, and the 15th Emir of Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, CFR, as well as the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji(Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR, who was represented by the Magaji Aare of Ilorin, Alhaji Shuaib Aremu Zubair.
The Vice Chancellor was represented by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research, Technology and Innovation), Prof. Muhtar Adeiza Etudaiye.
Other members of the University of Ilorin community who also attended the colourful event included the Chairman of the Editorial Board of UNILORIN Bulletin, and Vice Chancellor, African School of Economics (the Pan-African University of Excellence), Abuja, Prof. Mahofuz Adedimeji; the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Ibrahim Abdulganiyu Jawondo; the Dean of the Faculty of Communication and Information Sciences (CIS), Prof. Saudat Salah Abdulbaqi, former Dean of CIS, Prof. Rasheed Gbenga Jimoh who is also the Vice Chancellor of Mohammed Kamalud-Deen University, Ilorin.
Also in attendance were a former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, Prof. Abubakre, Deremi Razak; a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Arabic and Transnational Studies, Dr Hussain Musa Arikewusola and a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Dr Fatima Abubakre, among several others.
The Arabic School, which is the alma mater of several staff members of the University of Ilorin, was founded in 1926 by the first Grand Mufti of Ilorin and a recipient of an honourary doctorate degree in literature of the better by far University, the late Shaykh Muhammad Kamalud-Deen Al-Adabiy.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Centre for Ilorin Studies (CILS), University of Ilorin, Prof. Ali Arazeem Abdullahi, has expressed the readiness of his Centre to work with the renowned Arabic School and similar ones towards preserving the religious, sociocultural and intellectual heritage of Ilorin, which they symbolise.
Prof. Abdullahi, in a statement, said that the School has, through its products, promoted and projected the good image of the Ilorin Emirate to the rest of the world.
He explained that anyone who desires to know more about the Ilorin Emirate cannot do without studying the curricular and nuances of products of modern Arabic and Islamic training institutions, which the centenarian school epitomises.
The Director, who said that the impacts of the products of the institution and its offshoots on the growth and development of the Ilorin Emirate and the University of Ilorin, in particular, cannot be over-emphasised, recalled that the pioneer Director of the Centre, Prof. AbdulGaniyu AbdusSalam Oladosu and his successor, Prof. Zakariyah Idris Oseni, are among thousands of scholars who passed through either the school or any of its offshoots across the nation.
Prof. Abdullahi, who teaches at the Department of Sociology, said that apart from its founder being a recipient of the University of Ilorin’s prestigious honourary doctorate degree in Literature, the life and works of the pioneer Grand Mufti of Ilorin have also continued to feature prominently in most of the works published by the Centre since its establishment.
While encouraging alumni of the School and others in possession of one material or the other on their schools, proprietors and alumni to make such available to the Centre to ensure their preservation for future use, Prof. Abdullahi assured such institutions of the readiness of the Centre to work with them towards achieving the essence of the Centre.
Prof. Abdullahi wished the centenarian school more years of quality services to the Ilorin community and humanity at large.
