Olumide Lawal
The former Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki
has been announced dead at the age of 93years.
The deceased was the father of the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, who is currently facing corruption charges.
Report has it that he died on Monday night, at the Turkish hospital in Abuja and will be buried on Tuesday, according to Muslim rites.
The ex Sultan was deposed in 1996 by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, after he was installed by Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida, as the 18th Sultan of Sokoto in 1988.
Prior to becoming Sultan, he held the traditional title of Baraden Sokoto and was the first Sultan from the Buhari line of the house of Uthman Dan Fodio.
He ruled for eight years before his deposition and banishment to Zing, in Taraba State.
The late Sultan attended Dogondaji Elementary School before proceeding to Sokoto Middle School in 1935 and finished his secondary education at Barewa College on sponsorship from Sokoto Native Authority.
After finishing high school in 1943, he worked as a clerk in the treasury office of the Sokoto Native Authority.
In 1945, he took up appointment with Gaskiya Corporation, a publishing house that published the Hausa daily, Gaskiya Ta Fi Kwabo.
He later became private secretary to Ahmadu Bello, the late Sardauna of Sokoto, and was also a friend to late Islamic scholar, Abubakar Gumi.
In 1957, he filled the position of regional executive council deputy secretary and was sent to Jeddah as Nigeria’s pilgrimage officer and was influential in the founding of Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI).
Between 1960 and 1961, Dasuki worked in the Nigerian embassy in Khartoum, Sudan and was later brought back to Nigeria by Ahmadu Bello to work in Jos, following which he became the permanent secretary in the regional Ministry of Local Government.
Several influential Nigerians are currently appealing to President Muhammadu Buhari to allow Sambo attend his father’s burial.
