Ilesha-Baruba (Kwara) – Political and religious leaders in Kwara on Saturday extolled the virtues of the late Emir of Ilesha-Baruba, Alhaji Bio-Usman Abubakar, who died on Thursday at the age of 70.
The leaders described deceased, who died after a protracted illness in Ilesha-Baruba, as a visionary and innovative ruler.
In his sermon at the three-day ‘fidau’ prayer for the late monarch, an islamic scholar in Ilesha-Baruba, Ustaz Mohammed Iliasu, urged the people to remember death always.
He described death as a necessary and inevitable end to all mortals.
The scholar reminded the people of the judgment day when every soul would account for its deeds.
Iliasu said the late traditional ruler was a peacemaker, a truthful and visionary ruler who introduced many innovations in the community.
“He set up a cemetery here and mandated that all corpses be buried there, including his own. He also fought against adultery and fornication through Islamic preaching,” Iliasu said.
The Chief Imam of Ilesha-Baruba in the Baruten local government, Alhaji Musa Abdullahi, had earlier prayed for the repose of the emir.
He beseeched Allah to grant him an eternal rest and make him an abode of ‘Aljanat Firdaus’.
The chief Imam, who described the late monarch as religious and righteous, said he had left a vacuum that would be difficult to fill.
He said that his adherence to the tenets of Islam made his reign peaceful.
The Senator representing Kwara North in the National Assembly, Alhaji Sha’aban Lafiagi, described the deceased as a honest and generous man.
Other prominent people who graced the prayers included the Deputy Governor of Kwara, Elder Peter Kishira, members of national and state assemblies, top government officials and royal fathers, among others.
Born in 1944, the late monarch, an electrical engineer, was the General Manager of the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) in London before his appointment as the emir in 2000. (NAN)
