Shaykh Tajudeen of Ebiraland: Seventy Years After An Unforgettable Son of Ilorin

 Shaykh Tajudeen of Ebiraland: Seventy Years After An Unforgettable Son of Ilorin

By Abubakar Imam 

Sunday, May 17, 2026 would make it exactly 70 years since the demise of an illustrious export of Ilorin, who chose Okene, the chief town of the Ebira people in the present-day Kogi State, as home. This remarkable statesman was Sheikh Yahaya Aliyu Tajudeen, the first official Chief Imam of Okene and, by extension, the entire Ebiraland.

Sheikh Tajudeen hailed from Ile Adafila in the Pakata area of Ilorin. His ancestral home, which is located in Ibadi-Ori axis of Ubandawaki Ward, is not far from the popular Pakata Roundabout, Ilorin.

Yours sincerely first came in contact with the name and reputation of this sage from books, particularly the "Ilorin: The Journey So Far" by L.A.K. Jimoh; and subsequently from his short biography, which was authored by the pioneer Grand Kadi of Kogi State, Justice Yunoos Abdullahi. I later had the privilege of knowing more about him through personal research on his life and times gathered from several sources.

Sheikh Tajudeen was a cleric, teacher, financial technocrat, public servant, community leader and patriot. However, his contributions as a Muslim cleric and Islamic propagator overshadowed other contributions of his to human development.

His father was Sheikh Aliyu Adafila while his mother was Princess Shinabu (Zainab) Aliyu. The mother of this illustrious icon hailed from Irun community in the present-day Ondo State.

Sheikh Tajudeen, who was born in 1875,  began his life with exposure to the Holy Quran. He learnt the arts and sciences of reading the Holy Quran as expected of every indigene of Ilorin, the fountain of Islamic learning. This he did under the watchful eyes of his father. He also studied some rudimentary aspects of Islamic studies from various respected scholars of his time in Ilorin.

To quench his profound thirst for knowledge, this unforgettable son of Ilorin proceeded to the school of the legendary Sheikh Muhammad Jumuah Al-Labib, popularly known as Taju-L-Adab (1877-1923), where he obtained training in advanced Arabic and Islamic Studies. 

Sheikh Tajudeen was one of the several alumni of Sheikh Taju-L-Adab's School, which also produced the first Grand Mufti of Ilorin and founder of the Ansarul Islam Society of Nigeria and Abroad, Sheikh Muhammad Kamalud-Deen Al-Adabiy, MFR, OFR, ORSA, FISN, D. Litt. However, the two phenomenal scholars did not meet in the school due to difference of periods of attendance.The first Mufti of Ilorin later epitomised the Islamic intellectual heritage established by their teacher.

The title "Tajudeen" (crown of religious devotion) was conferred on him by Sheikh Taju-L-Adab as he did to other graduates of his school such as Sheikh Zakariya Bakinni(d.1934), whom he gave Tajul Mumini; Sheikh Salman Ake(d.1974), who was bestowed with the title of "Muftideen" and, of course, the first Grand Mufti of Ilorin, whom he granted the title of "Kamalud-Deen", among several others. 

Sheikh Tajudeen later joined the colonial service as one of the earliest set of indigenes of Ilorin to do so. He worked in the Treasury Division of the service.

After a few years of service in Ilorin, Sheikh Tajudeen's career took a new turn as he was posted to Kabba District in 1915. He initially settled in Kabba but his historic meeting with an influential Ebira woman trader in Kabba was said to have encouraged him to shuttle between the town and Okene.The woman, Madam Zainab Ejinovo, popularly known as Iyebe, who was the mother of Alhaji Ibrahim Onoruoiza Atta(1884-1964) pleaded with him to visit Okene for the sake of Islam as the town was in dire need of the services of a competent Islamic scholar. Following the acceptance of the offer, Sheikh Tajudeen subsequently began to shuttle between Kabba and Okene.

He combined his civil service career with Islamic propagation as often done by most of the past indigenes of Ilorin wherever they traveled to or resided.  He was said to have shuttled between Okene and Kabba towns from 1915 to 1924 in the course of which Alhaji Atta became the paramount ruler of Ebiraland. 

Sheikh Tajudeen eventually settled down permanently in Okene in 1925 as encouraged by the fraternal relationship he developed with Alhaji Ibrahim Atta, who served as the paramount ruler of Ebiraland from 1917 to 1954. He subsequently used that privilege to promote Arabic and Islamic Education and advance the cause of Islam to the best of his ability. In fact, Sheikh Tajudeen was said to be the most important human factor, which worked for the spread and growth of Islam in that part of the country and at that particular period of history.

Although Islam was not unknown to the Ebira people prior to his arrival in Okene as it had earlier been introduced by an itinerant Ilorin-born Islamic scholar, Sheikh Abdulsalam of Popo-Giwa, about two decades ahead, Sheikh Tajudeen's relocation to Ebiraland and the subsequent yeoman's services he rendered turned Islam into the religion of the greatest majority of the people of Ebiraland till date. He was said to be an efficient teacher and charismatic preacher who took his time to enlighten the Ebira community on the pristine values of Islam without insulting their long-held culture and traditions. The manners and mannerisms coupled with the characters and characteristics as well as the culture plus the costumes that are associated with Islam, which he and his few initial followers consistently displayed, were said to be so exciting to the people of Ebiraland that they willingly accepted to join the fold of Islam wholeheartedly.

For his impactful efforts and interventions in the spiritual lives and progress of the greatest majority of members of the Ebira community, Sheikh Tajudeen was deservedly recognised as the first Grand Scholar of Islam in Ebiraland. He was also appointed the first official Chief Imam of Okene and the entire Ebiraland. He held the office till his death.

However, for a few years, Sheikh Tajudeen had to step-aside from the office as a result of a misunderstanding between him and Alhaji Ibrahim Atta. Alhaji Atta was the progenitor of the great Atta dynasty of Ebiraland, Kogi State. The dynasty paraded several outstanding statesmen such as the first Nigeria's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alhaji Abdulmalik Atta (1914-1969); a Secretary to the Federal Military Government and Head of the Civil Service of the Federation under General Yakubu Gowon, Alhaji AbdulAzeez Atta (1920-1972); the second medical doctor produced by Northern Nigeria, Dr Abdulmumini Atta(1920-2016); the first civilian Governor of the Old Kwara State, Alhaji Adamu Atta(1927-2014); the third Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim (1929-2023); the first Minister of Women Affairs, Ambassador Judith Sefiya Atta(b.1933) and the Inspector-General of Police, Federal Republic of Nigeria, from 1990 to 1993, Alhaji Aliyu Atta (b.1937), among several others. 

The misunderstanding between the two great men was said to have been occasioned by Sheikh Tajudeen's attempt to settle a rift between the paramount traditional ruler and his younger brother, Mallam Yakubu, who was the Wakili stationed by the Atta in Lokoja. Mallam Yakubu was the father of Alhaji AbdulRahman Okene. Alhaji Okene, who lived between 1914 and 1999, was not only the first Ag. Secretary to the Military Government of Kwara State but also the Chairman of the Provisional Council of the University of Ibadan as at the time the University of Ilorin was established as a College of the premier University. He later served as the Minister of Internal Affairs and subsequently as Chairman of the Northern Elders Forum.

Sheikh Tajudeen's spectacular achievements in Okene were excellent and many. Apart from using Islam to promote the bound of unity among the hitherto republican people of Ebiraland, it is also on record that the first generation of sophisticated Islamic scholars among the Ebira people, including the earlier mentioned Justice Yunoos Abdullahi and Dr Nasiru Bello, who served as the University Librarian at the Bayero University, Kano, many years ago, started their journey into the realm of Islamic scholarship under his watchful eyes. He was also the hero who launched Arabic literacy on the soil of Ebiraland more than a century ago.

This unforgettable son of Ilorin never spread Islam with swords. He did with the power of his words and actions. It is to his eternal glory that Ebiraland today has the greater percentage of its people as Muslims.

Clerics of nowadays, particularly those from Ilorin Emirate who live elsewhere, have a lot of lessons to learn from the dispositions of one of their illustrious professional progenitors, Sheikh Tajudeen. He completely devoted his life and times to the spread of Islam. He left Ilorin, which was saturated by his equally learned colleagues and never looked back. There is, in fact, no record that he visited Ilorin after his departure from the town in 1915.

Sheikh Tajudeen was also a very peaceful man who comported his life with his hosts. He never ignored their sensitivities and sensibility. He took his time to study their sociology and psychology. Hence, he was able to achieve his vision and mission to Ebiraland.

When Sheikh Tajudeen was forced to step aside from his position, he never insisted on maintaining the office "by fire by force" until he was returned to the same position peacefully and honourably. This was at the instance of the intervention of the founder of the popular Arabic and Islamic Training Centre (Markaz), Agege, Lagos State, Shaykh Adam Abdullahi Al-Ilory, who visited the town during the crisis and succeeded in brokering peace between Alhaji Atta and Sheikh Tajudeen. This was said to be in 1953. Even when those clerics (three of them) who were appointed to replace him as Chief Imam were dying one after the other, Sheikh Tajudeen neither mocked them nor claimed to posses any power. He never regarded himself as an avatar. 

He was said to have told his students and admirers that everything happened as destined by Allah. His patience paid off as he was eventually restored to the position after a few years by the same person who asked him to step aside.

One other fascinating lesson that should be picked from the life of this unforgettable servant of Islam was his humility, which made him to enroll at the School of Shaykh Taju-L-Adab, who was not only his friend but also younger to him in age. A perusal of the letter Sheikh Tajudeen wrote to his teacher, Sheikh Taju-L-Adab, reveals this great quality, which is, however, fastly evaporating from our interpersonal relationships today.

Sheikh Tajudeen, who was married and blessed with many successful children, died on Thursday, May 17,1956 in Okene where his remains were also buried. My findings revealed that the tomb of Sheikh Tajudeen at the Okene Cemetery till today remains one of the cleanest and covered by a mighty tree that provides shade and doesn't gets dry weather in summer or winter. I was told that one would never meet anyone sweeping the tomb. Yet, it always looks well kept!

With the death of Sheikh Tajudeen in Okene, he shared the same fate with his teacher, mentor and role-model, Sheikh Taju-L-Adab, who also died and got buried in Abeokuta 33 years earlier. The two died in active services of Islam and hundreds of kilometres away from the place of their birth. It may interest readers to know that Sheikh Taju-L-Adab foretold the place of death of Sheikh Tajudeen and this became a reality about four decades after.

This uncommon patriot was undoubtedly one of those distinguished sons of Ilorin who gave their all to Islam. He was, indeed, a shinning Ambassador-plenipotienry of Ilorin Emirate who did very well at promoting its image to "the rest of the world".

Though he died exactly seven decades ago, Sheikh Tajudeen became immortal courtesy of the timelessness of his contributions and calibre of his biological and intellectual descendants who have done and are still doing very well in the annals of Ilorin Emirate and Ebiraland as well as the nation at large. His eldest son, Sheikh AbdulRahim Tajudeen, succeeded him as the Chief Imam of Okene. He was the Chief Imam from 1956 to 1960. He too was succeeded by a student of Shaykh Tajudeen, Shaykh Musa Galadima, who this author met at Okene Central Mosque in 1988. His eldest son later served as a Councillor in Okene during the first republic. Imam AbdulRahim, who was the father of a veteran journalist, former Chief Press Secretary to two past Military Administrators of Kwara State and one-time General Manager of the Kwara State Television Service, Alhaji Nurudeen Imam AbdulRahim, died in Ilorin in 1974 and was subsequently laid to rest at his ancestral home in Pakata where his tomb is still preserved. 

Two of the surviving children of Sheikh Tajudeen are still very much alive as at the date of this publication. They are Alhaji Idris Yahaya, who was born in 1934; and Alhaji Abdulsalam Yahaya, who is 72 years old. They both live in Okene serving as elders and leaders of the Sheikh Tajudeen family and the community at large.

One of the grandchildren of this illustrious personality was Dr Abdulkadir Babatunde Sulaiman. A son of Shaykh Sulaiman Okeleru, Dr Sulaiman was a distinguished member of the first generation of Ilorin-born medical doctors. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1964 and also served as the pioneer Director of the Planned Parenthood Federation of Nigeria (PPFN) at the Federal Ministry of 

Health for several years. The Director-General of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Abuja, and former Minister of National Planning, Prof. Abubakar Olanrewaju Sulaiman, is also one of Sheikh Tajudeen's proud descendants.

Also on the list of the descendants of this great son of Ilorin was Alhaji Suleiman AbdulRahim, who served as Director of Finance and Supply at the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. On his death, his remains were buried in his house in Ilorin. Another grandson of Sheikh Tajudeen also served as a Director of Lands Administration at the same Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory. He is Alhaji Saka AbdulRahim.

One other grandson of this eminent Islamic luminary was the late Air Vice Marshall Ismail Abdulmumini Yahaya. AVM Yahaya died a few years ago after decades of meritorious services to his fatherland.

As a mark of their contributions to the peace and progress of Ebiraland, two of his illustrious grand children were also granted traditional titles by the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland. They are Alhaji Muhammad Jimoh AbdulRahim (1943-2018), who was made the Wali of Ebiraland by Ohinoyi Sanni Omolori, who reigned from 1956 to 1996; and my name-sake, Alhaji(Dr) abuBAKAR IMAM, who was coronated Onizeiza (Dan Amana) of Ebiraland by His Royal Highness, Alhaji Ado Ibrahim, the immediate past paramount ruler of Ebiraland, who reigned between 1997 and 2023. A number of other descendants of Shaykh Tajudeen are also doing very well across various fields of human endeavours including civil service, business and military such as Air Commodore Mahmud Yahaya, a son of Alhaji Idris Yahaya and senior officer in the Nigerian Air Force. He was recently elevated to the rank, which is equivalent to that of a one-star General in the Nigerian Army.

Apart from the two books earlier mentioned, the contributions of Sheikh Tajudeen are also preserved in several other literature particularly "Our Illustrious Icons: A Biography of Selected Prominent People of Pakata Area, Ilorin, 1831-2015" published by "Pakata Patriots" Ilorin in 2016; "Ilorin Emirate's Frontliners" published by this author in 2024 and several other serious publications on the growth of Islam in North-Central Nigeria. It is also a pleasure that Sheikh Tajudeen was recently admitted into the "Ilorin Emirate Hall of Fame", which was established by Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) to honour remarkable patriots of Ilorin Emirate origin. His short profile and picture along with those of other 45 honourees, including those of the 8th and 9th Emirs of Ilorin, Sheikh Abdulkadir Shuaib Bawa (1887-1959) and Sheikh Sulu Gambari, CFR, respectively, and the incumbent, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, CFR, are displayed at the Union's national headquarters in Ilorin for posterity.

As we remember Sheikh Tajudeen and his contributions, I pray to Allah to forgive his shortcomings and reward his good deeds with eternal pleasure in Aljanat Fridaous. I also pray to Allah to bless Ilorin Emirate with more of such patriots who will be mindful of their roles in human development and think little about themselves as exemplified in the life and times of Sheikh Tajudeen. Amin.Amin. Amin. Yarab Alamin.

****Imam is the immediate past National Secretary of Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU)***.