Belgore donates archival material to CILS
By Abubakar Imam
In fulfilment of his pledge to assist the Centre for Ilorin Studies (CILS), University of Ilorin with relevant archival materials, an elder-statesman and Chairman of the Ilorin Emirate Zakat and Sadaqat Committee, Engr. Saad Belgore, has presented a portrait of Prince Muhammad Laufe Shuaib to the Centre.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, which held at his residence in Ilorin penultimate Thursday (October 14, 2026) Engr Belgore described Prince Laufe as “one of the most consequential royal figures in the annals of Ilorin”.
He explained that Prince Laufe, who was the eldest son of the 7th Emir of Ilorin, Shaykh Shuaib Bawa, was also the elder brother of the 8th Emir of Ilorin, Shaykh Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa, and father of the ninth Emir, Alhaji Sulu Gambari; uncle of the tenth Emir, Shaykh Aliyu AbdulKadir as well as the paternal grandfather of the incumbent Emir, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR. He added that Prince Laufe was also the father of Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, a former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Chief of Staff to ex-President, late General Muhammad Buhari.
Engr Belgore, who is also a successful entrepreneur, encouraged the CILS to commission a study on the life and times of Prince Laufe, which, he explained, would reveal several lessons that members of the present and future generations of indigenes of Ilorin Emirate and others can learn from.
He pointed out that the factor, which informed his appointment as the District Head of Lanwa in the present-day Moro Local Government Area of Kwara State following the appointment of his younger brother and previous occupant of the position, Shaykh Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa, as Emir in 1920, remains a lesson in sacrifice, compromise, loyalty, perseverance and faith, which should not be lost to history.
Receiving the item, the Director of the Centre, Prof. Ali Arazeem Abdullahi, commended Engr Belgore for living up to his words.
Prof. Abdullahi, who teaches at the Department of Sociology, said that the material would not only be displayed at the Centre’s gallery with a footnote but efforts would also be made to take up the challenge thrown at the Centre as regard the documentation of the life of the late statesman.
He, therefore, encouraged others to emulate Engr Belgore by bringing out and donating such relevant materials and others like personal records, calendars and letters written by indigenes and residents of Ilorin for preservation and transmission of knowledge on Ilorin and its people.
