How Emir of Ilorin sponsored trumpeter’s educational journey from primary to PhD
Murtala Abdulraheem, one of the trumpeter’s of the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, has praised the noble gesture of his royal benefactor for sponsoring his education journey from Primary School up to completing a PhD at the university.
Abdulraheem, serving as the Dan Morin Sarki (Personal Assistant), expressed his deepest gratitude towards the 11th Emir of Ilorin in an exclusive interview with SolaceBase over the weekend.
He shared with SolaceBase that his family has a long-standing tradition of serving as trumpeters for the emirs of Ilorin, with his grandfather having played the same role for the 9th Emir of Ilorin, the late Alhaji Muhammad Zulkarnain, affectionately known as Sulu Gambari until his passing in 1992.
‘’After the death of my grandfather, my father was asked to take over the job but unfortunately, he doesn’t have the skills, hence he suggested me out of his children knowing my flair for it, ‘’Abdulraheem said.
‘’That was my journey into being the emir’s trumpeter’’
‘’Not too long the ninth emir of Ilorin died and I continued with the 10th emir, Alhaji Baba Abdulqadri.’’
He explained that prior to that moment he had completed his Primary School at Egbegila in Ilorin West local government in 1992.
‘’The 10th emir later re-enrolled me at Okesuna Primary School 1992 where I was asked to join the other pupils in primary 4 as I could neither read nor write despite completing primary school in our village before coming to Ilorin town.’’
However, with Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari ascending the throne as the 11th Emir of Ilorin, he asked me if I would like to continue my education which I answered in the affirmative.
‘’From that moment onward, he took over my education in 1995.
‘’I subsequently got enrolled at the Baboko Community Secondary School in 1995.’’
But what would surprise you was that the emir asked me how much was the school fees, uniforms and others. I told him it was N1,350. He put his hand in his pocket and brought out a bale of N20 notes which was N2,000 and handed it over to me.
‘’So by the year 2000, I went to Ansaru Islam Secondary School, Samara, Irepodun local government area of Kwara State, where I wrote my first external examination at SS2.’’
However, I later completed my secondary education in 2001 at Boboko Community Secondary School after writing NECO and WAEC but still my result was not complete as I had an ordinary pass not credit in mathematics.
‘’ So by the year 2003, I was able to pass all my external examinations at Government Day Secondary School Alore’.’’
Later, I got admission into Kwara State Polytechnic in 2004 to study Statistics
The super trumpeter of the emir of Ilorin said with all this his educational journey, the emir was always supportive never allowing him to lack in any way.
He explained that after completion of his OND in Statistics, he felt it was better for him to take up an extra job to augment his salary and not to bother the royal father about his schooling and others.
‘’I picked up a job as a fuel attendant at a petrol filling station at Texaco opposite the main Post Office in Ilorin since my work as a trumpeter is carried out on Thursday night, Friday morning and afternoon after Jumuát prayers, that can afford me some leverage.’’
‘’I was on this job as the petrol station for about seven years. Incidentally, one day the emir sent for me to report to him immediately. I was scared when I got the message because I could not understand what the issue could be for such an urgent call. Immediately I took permission and rushed to see him.
‘’The first question he asked me was that is it true that you work as a fuel attendant? I never lied to him and I answered yes sir. I told him it was due to the fact that I don’t want to be bothering you about my school fees and others Knowing that you have so many of us like me that you are caring for. The emir was very annoyed, asking that did I ever told you that I cannot afford it.’’
He ordered me to leave the fuel attendant job and take care of his personal office.
‘’He told me to engage a person to be taking care of the office while I supervise apart from my job as a trumpeter. But rather I beseeched him to allow me to take care of the office myself because of the issue of trust which he approved.’’
‘’I subsequently enrolled for my HND in Kwara Poly in 2007 and completed it in 2009 and later had my NYSC in 2010.
‘’With my higher certificate qualification, the emir ensured that I was employed by Ilorin West Local Government and posted to the palace and even despite this my educational burden was still on the emir who ensured that I don’t have to spend any money to acquire further studies.’
‘’So in 2011, I went back to Kwara Poly for my postgraduate certificate in Public Administration and in 2014 I applied for my Master’s program in Public Administration at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).
‘’For some administrative issues, completion of my program at NOUN was delayed over missing results that took some time before it was addressed.’’
‘’I later graduated in 2019 and got my certificate in 2020 and that same year I registered for another Master’s program in Philosophy at Alhikima University in Ilorin.’’
‘’The emir asked me immediately after my master’s at Alhikima University if I intended to pursue my doctorate which I said yes sir. He directed me to apply and he footed the bill as his usual practice until I finally defended my dissertation successfully last week.
However, long before now, he had directed me to stop blowing the trumpet which I pleaded that I wanted to continue with but he insisted and I had to stop.
‘’I did my PhD in peace and conflict resolution, and the dissertation was titled,’’ Traditional Mechanism for Managing Marital Conflict in Selected Community of Kwara State, Ilorin Emirate, Pategi Emirate, Ibolo Kingdom and Igbomina Kingdom.
‘’I dedicated the thesis to him for his unwavering support to all my educational pursuits.
Murtala Abdulraheem told SolaceBase that he doesn’t want to go into the academic but rather look at how he can utilize the knowledge acquired to address local issues bedevilling the community and humanity as a whole.
Commenting on the gesture of the emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari on Murtala Abdulraheem, a Professor of Islamic Studies and Shariah, Bayero University, Kano, Muhammad Aminullahi Adamu El- Gambari told SolaceBase that was one in the countless support the Ilorin Emirate Royal Father is used to.
‘’Honestly, you can hardly count the numbers of those who are benefitting from the emir’s educational support and those with skills acquisition programs.’’
Prof. El- Gambari whom the emir appointed Ambassador of Ilorin Emirate in Kano since 2022 noted that the emir who was a court of appeal judge before his enthronement has a flair for supporting the development of people for them to be self-reliant.
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