Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe: A Paragon for Generational Virtues

It was Karl Marx that once said, that people make their history, but they do not choose the conditions or the circumstances. That was a statement that readily came to my mind, as I read this new biographic study of Doctor Ibrahim Oloriegbe. Full disclosure is an imperative in a situation like this. Ibrahim is my friend. And I am one of those that think, that he should have entered Senate, since 2011. I still believe that he won the race eleven years ago, but became the victim of the electoral heist that was regularly visited on the people of Kwara State, especially, from the 2011 elections. It took the incredible people’s movement, the OTO GEE manifestation of 2018/19, for him to eventually get the opportunity, to represent the genuine aspirations of the people of our community, in the upper legislative chambers, of the Nigerian National Assembly. But I am in fact, moving too fast, into occurrences in the future. The point of embarkation, must be sought in the values that moulded the man, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, and why those values are central to the human being, doctor, public servant, politician and legislator, that is the subject of this book.

Ibrahim belongs to the generation of the 1960s. He was born on November 12th, 1960. That is the generation that was born in the context of the emergence of Nigerian nationhood. The central motifs of existence were hope; education; character; training; and deep-seated values, sourced from religious training. The generation of the sixties, was one that creamed off the very best of what an independent country was willing to offer its citizens; and these were a lot! This generation grew into a world of changes, and it was as if there just was nothing that was beyond their abilities to achieve. It was a period that was lit by the liberating developments taking place in the world: from national liberation struggles, to remarkable human achievements, in practically every field of human endeavour. This was also noted in the book on Pg. 18; it stated, of that period in history, that “people felt a liberation that helped them look inward[s] to achieve their own goals in life, and began their journey to selfdiscovery, which led to lifetime achievements for many”. What was heartening, was that those achievements, were available to practically every individual, who was prepared to work hard. And hard work, was the most natural attribute that families preached regularly, for the children of this epoch. It was therefore taken, almost for granted, that if you followed

Book: Authors: Publishers:

Paragon of Virtue: Diary of Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe at 60 Olalekan Adewumi & Akinyemi Adeolu

Matrix Publications & Global Resources Ltd.

RA 15, Adekunle Fajuyi Housing Estate, Ilawe Road, Ado-Ekiti

285 2020

Pages: Year of Publication:

the straight and narrow path, success was waiting for you. Ibrahim Oloriegbe grew up within this historical epoch; but he was very privileged, at two levels.

He came from a family, which had built considerable material success, and is the son of a man, a father, reputed to be one of the genuinely rich people in the community. Wealth, that all attested to, as having been earned, from honest labour. The book underlined this fact. Alhaji Yahaya Oloriegbe, it says in Pg. 17, “built what would become a great trading empire that currently records his name as one of the wealthiest in the history of the ancient town of Ilorin”. And that was very vital to the story of the man. He was one of those whose parents could literally “spoil” their son, with whatever was a marker of wealth. But this was not the nature of value that was going to be imposed on the young boy. On the contrary, it was an upbringing of a very disciplined ethos; a value for labour and an underlining understanding that whatever the family had built in wealth, in the long run, was “rahma” that came only from Allah!

So, like a well-brought up son of the Ilorin community, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, early in life, would go through the spartan discipline of learning the Qur’an. Learn it, he did, and very well too! The second element of his persona, was that he had always been a very brilliant student; and this was a consistent thread through his life, from primary school, to secondary school, through to university. He was an outstanding scholar! He attended the Ansarul Islam Secondary School, Oloje, Ilorin, entering in 1974, and by the time he graduated, in 1979, he left an incredible record: “His brilliance all through secondary school was unforgettable. He remains one of the best students till date (Pg.26)”. Furthermore, “Ibrahim’s hard work in the secondary school culminated in an outstanding performance in the final examinations where he made distinction in all his papers, setting a record that is yet to be broken by any other student in the school”. And that is underscored poignantly, by the fact that “he was the cynosure of all eyes, a humble brilliant boy from a well-to-do family, who didn’t allow his father’s wealth get into his head (Pg.34)”. Yet, these levels of privilege were noted by all the people, that he came across, but he never lost his head, and retained a consistent level-headedness, which again hacks back to the values that he was brought up with, and which were very much within the context of the epoch which moulded him, and imprinted so remarkably, on the human being that he became.

Several factors often come together, in the formation and development of character; and none more so than adversity, which can break or make, forever. The young Ibrahim Oloriegbe, at the age of eleven in 1972, lost his mother, Hajiya Hafsatu Oloriegbe. He was in primary five, and at that time, his younger brother, Abdul’Majeed, was just three years old. The trauma was sufficiently deep to momentarily affect his school performance, but the extended family rallied round him, to see him through that trying moment, and before long, Ibrahim returned to his very best in school; while at the same time, providing the type of leadership by example, which assisted the flowering of his younger brother, who would also become a successful lawyer. This period was very vital to understanding the evolution of Ibrahim Oloriegbe’s persona. He was beginning to develop the traits of character that would eventually be the basis of the various achievements that he would record in life. By the time he finished secondary school, his father’s legendary wealth, had become the talk of the community; he had started the Prospect Textile Mill,in Ilorin, and as another successful member of the community noted at the time, Alhaji Yahaya Oloriegbe, was “…the richest man in Ilorin when you talk about cash in hand (Pg. 35)”.

Ibrahim was very close to his father, as a first son, “helping with keeping records of his many properties and tenants (Pg.36)”.

And together with his siblings, after school, would join his father at his shop, where “they were thus exposed to different aspects of the trade, such as goods assessment, costing, accounting and selling”; they would be there all-day, till the business closed for the day. There were more exacting tasks too, as recalled by Ibrahim’s older cousin, Alhaji Mustapha Babatunde Abdulraheem Oloriegbe: “Our fathers would ask us to calculate the stock they needed to buy, and do the costing and even project on the likely profit that it would bring (Pg. 68&69)”. The fact that his character had definitively been forming positively, was further underlined, by his religious character. As one of his classmates would recall, “all through our years in school as boarding house students, he was our student Imam, the one who was always leading prayers at the school mosque and also delivered sermons”. Dr. Mahmoud Yusuf, added that Ibrahim was not just brilliant academically, “he is what one can call an Islamic scholar… (Pg.33)”. This devotion to Islam was one that was noted at other junctures in his life. Having been enrolled in an ‘Ile Kewu’, the Qur’anic school, from very early, at the Aligere Compound,in Ilorin, his rapid progress in learning and enthusiasm, saw him become the ‘ajanasi’, the Qur’an reciter for his Malam, Alhaji Ambali Makondoro, whenever the Malam preached. This was attested to by his cousin, Alhaji Rafiu Oloriegbe, who remembered that “there is no part of (the Qur’an) that he doesn’t know”.