Dasuki At 90 Still Going Strong

     
Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki, great great grandson of the legendary Uthman Dan Fodio, the founder of what is today known as the Sokoto Caliphate, was and still is a powerful force in the religious and political life of Nigeria. Even before he became the 18th Sultan of Sokoto in 1988, he had a commanding influence in the affairs of the nation and served as a member of the 1977 Constituent Assembly. As sultan, he was the president of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

Dasuki was born in 1923 in Dogondaji to a family of descendants of Uthman Dan Fodio; he is a member of the Buhari Royal House. He started his education at a Qur’anic school in 1928 and was there until 1931. He later attended Dogondaji Elementary School and the Sokoto Central School. Between 1935 and1940, he was a student at the Sokoto Middle School, where he was the school’s senior prefect during his third year. He later attended the famous Barewa College, sponsored by the Sokoto Native Authority. On completing his secondary school education and to fulfil scholarship duties, he joined the native authority as a clerk to the district officer in charge of treasury, although his original intention was to become a journalist.

Between 1953 and1955, he was private secretary to the regional minister of transport, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, who was also his cousin. He later went to Oxford University, England for a one-year course. On his return, he was posted to the Plateau Division as assistant district officer, and later pilgrims officer. In 1963, Dasuki was appointed a representative of the North to the board that conducted the Nigerian census of 1963. After leaving the census board, he continued working for the civil service in the Regional Ministry of Local Government and later Trade, where he was permanent secretary and chairman of the Northern Nigeria Marketing Board. In 1969, he resigned from the civil service into a life of entrepreneurship.

As a private citizen, his first high profile job was his position as chairman of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, where he championed a policy of decentralisation and the creation of district offices. Dasuki’s announcement as the sultan in November 1988 to succeed Sultan Abubakar Siddiq was, expectedly, controversial, in keeping with the larger than life stature of the candidate. With his political godson General Ibrahim Babangida then in office as president, it was no surprise that he was able to weather the storm of opposition. However, he had a bumpy relationship with the late head of state, General Sani Abacha, who deposed him in April 1996.

During his short tenure as sultan, he took steps to unite Muslims throughout Nigeria and led an international conference on Islam in Africa, to discuss the problems and perspective of the religion in the continent. As he clocks 90, we wish him many more years of service to his fatherland.

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