The Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Dr Abdulrahman Ado-Ibrahim, died on Sunday morning at 95.
The Secretary of Ebiraland Traditional Council, Alhaji Yunusa Sule, said that the paramount ruler died at an undisclosed Abuja Hospital after a protracted illness.
The scribe said his death was “very sad and a big blow” to Ebiraland.
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Early life
Abdulrahman Ado-Ibrahim was born on Feb. 7, 1929, and was the fourth traditional ruler and Ohinoyi of Ebiraland with headquarters in Okene, Kogi State.
Dr Ado-Ibrahim was born to His Royal Highness, Alhaji Ibrahim Onoruoiza Attah and Hajiya Hauwawu Ozianuva.
His father is of the Omadivi Clan, who reigned from 1917–1954.
Education
Young Ado Ibrahim completed his Nursery and Quranic education at the age of 11 years.
He was enrolled at the Okene Native Administration School from 1934 to 1940 for his elementary education. Upon completion of his elementary education, he was admitted to Okene Middle School in 1941.
After spending two years, he moved to the famous Ondo Boys High School for his secondary education from 1943 to 1946. From 1947 to 1949, he moved to Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife, Osun where he completed his secondary education.
He enrolled in 1952 as an external candidate for a degree at the London School of Economics, by utilising the extramural study facilities organised by the British Council in Jos.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics from the London School of Economics in 1954.
In 1955, he won a Ford Foundation Sponsorship to undertake a six-month course in Marketing and Business Strategy at the Business School of Harvard University.
On the strength of his performance, he was readmitted into the Master’s Programme of the school as a full-time student. He thus earned the celebrated Harvard MBA in 1959.
Career
He was employed by the United African Company (UAC) in 1950 as a special entrant for accelerated management. Having successfully gone through the Accounting and Sales Department in 1952, he was promoted to the post of Manager at the Kingsway Stores, Kaduna.
In January 1953, he quit Kingsway Stores and moved to Jos as Personnel Manager of Amalgamated Tin Mines of Nigeria Limited in charge of maintaining operation areas of Bukuru and Barkin Ladi.
In that same year, he attended the first Mining School in Jos and qualified as a Mining Prospector and Area Manager.
Later in the year, the company sent him on a further technical training course, organised by the Anglo-American Mining Corporation, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Upon his return, he was immediately promoted to Area manager and assigned the responsibility to excavate the Lead/Zinc Ore deposits at Izom in the Abuja district and to lead a team prospecting for gold and base materials in the location.
Enthronement
Following the death of Ohinoyi Sanni Omolori of the Oziada clan in 1997, the Lagos-based entrepreneur and son of the second paramount ruler of Ebiraland, Abdulrahman Ado Ibrahim, ascended the Okene throne as the second Ohinoyi or fourth independent traditional ruler of Ebiraland on 2 June 1997.
Ibrahim constructed the Azad Palace, named after one of his sons, said to be among the most beautiful in West Africa.
Friction with state government
Ibrahim was reportedly issued a query by the Kogi State Government, following his inability to grant the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari a welcome during the latter’s visit to the state, on 29 December 2022.
It was reported that a bomb exploded during the president’s visit at a mosque close to the palace of the ohinoyi in Okene, killing about three persons.
Ibrahim in his reply to the query on 12 January 2022, addressed to the State Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, stated that he did not receive an official notification and was unaware of the construction of another palace which was part of the projects to be commissioned by the president, other than the one he had been residing in since his coronation in 1997.
In addition, he stated that as he prepared to meet the president, the bomb incident happened and his palace entrance got barricaded, thus his inability to go out and meet the president before the latter left for Lokoja.
Earlier in December 2022, Ibrahim declared his support for Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of the PDP vying for the Kogi Central Senatorial District’s ultimate position notwithstanding that the state government being run by the APC.
