ILORIN EMIR’S 28TH CORONATION ANNIVERSARY: A POSTMORTEM ASSESSMENT

Mohammad Abdulkadri

The 28th Coronation anniversary of His Royal Highness, the Emir of Ilorin Dr. Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR has come and gone.

To state therefore, that the memories will remain indelible, will tantamount to stating the obvious fact.

Active participants and keen observers from within and outside the state adjudged the ceremony as very successful.

However, the unconcluded side of the concluded historic coronation ceremony, is undeniably, a matter that matters.

Can you imagine what that matter could be ?
Your guesses are as good as mine.

Simply put, the matter of the matter that matters, is the need to carry out the postmortem of the ceremony which this write up seeks to achieve. The auspicious time to do that is now, when the euphoria of the celebration is still palpable everywhere.

A postmortem recap of the coronation anniversary of our highly Cerebral Emir, fulfilled all righteousness permissible under the Islamic jurisprudence. Expectedly, act one, scene one, of the celebration was the Special Prayer held inside ‘Ile kewu’ section of the place with the Emir in attendance.

It was the flagship event among other activities.
Of course, no one expected anything other than Prayer! Prayer!! and prayer!!! everywhere in the nooks and cranies of Ilorin as they were organised in the various Mosques.

That the who-is-who Dahiris of Ilorin trooped out enmass for the coronation prayer, underscored the people’s beliefs in the efficacy of prayer and their affectionate dispositions towards the Royal Father, Mai Martaba Sarkin , Ilorin.

Again, no further proofs were required that the indigenes and non-indigenes alike keyed into the mood and mode of celebration through the Prayer that was led by the Chief Imam of Ilorin, Fadelat Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Bashir Soliu Al-Fulani, OON, which captured the very knitty gritty of it all.

The prayers unarguably confirmed the age-long widely acknowledged status of Ilorin as being synonymous with prayer, like two sides of the same coin.

I will therefore boldy and proudly say that- “Ilorin symbolises prayer and prayer symbolises Ilorin”. Is there anyone in doubt ? None.
For the sake of emphasis, Ilorin remains a Safe Haven and indeed, the first city of choice that people run to for prayer, when the chips are down.

Authoritative evidences abound to say that the latitudes and magnitudes of the anniversary prayer at the Palace raised the bar of unity, royalty and respectability for the throne.

Again, in retrospect, part of the icing on the cake of the celebration, was the yeoman’s value- added role played by the Babatunde Ibrahim led Ilorin Emirate Youth Council. IEYC.

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The distribution of Food Packs stocked with assorted consumables to Two hundred and fifty households(250) which spiced up the ceremony , proved the Council’s human-centric posture and its magnanimity. This gesture which should be encouraged and sustained was described by the beneficiaries as timely and helpful particularly, in this challenging times.

Also, a postmortem assessment of the 28th Coronation anniversary revealed that both the Print and electronic Media as well as Social Media platforms were massively awashed with the news, editorials, write- ups, programmes, and advertorials of the ceremony.

For the sake of actuality, this writer gathered from authoritative sources that over two hundred people and several corporate outfits placed and paid for felicitatorials with the Emir on Radio and Television Stations.

In the same token of journalistic efforts aimed at publicising the coronation anniversary, over fifty well scripted, well researched and thoughts provoking celebrational write -ups were written by accomplished writers.

They included the ones by the Former Director General, National Broadcasting Service, NBC, Modibbo Lanre Kawu, Ph.D the Emir’s Spokesman, Abdulazeez Arowona and the Chairman, Veterans Journalists, Kwara State Chapter, Alhaji Tunde Akanbi which went viral competitively for spaces in Online platforms and different outlets of Ilorin Emirate Groups online.

Mention must also be made of the benefits of the sports segment of the anniversarry celebration that produced up-coming stars footballers at the Finals of the 2023 Emir’s Cup Final played at the kwara State Stadium on 11/ 11/ 23.

Police Machines FC Ilorin defeated Musty FC, Ilorin by 1-0 in a keenly competed championship that attracted Thirty three Football Clubs including El-Lado FC,.Rhema FC, Shunshine FC and Kwara Poly FC. Kudos to the Ilorin Emirate Football Council that organised the football Championship,
under the Chairmanship of Abdulrazaq Owolabi Wopa.

While the ovations are still loudest for the just, successfully concluded, 28th coronation anniversary of the Emir of Ilorin Dr Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR, all hopes and eyes are futuristically on the coming editions.

The Peoples Prayers are for the Almighty Allah to grant Emir Gambari many more years on the throne to celebrate more colourful and successful anniversaries in good health.

Prince Abdulkadri Writes from Abuja.
14th November, 2023