Minister Mourns Ex-lawmaker, Rafiu Ibrahim

The Honourable Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, has expressed deep regret over the demise of a former Kwara South Senatorial District senator,  Rafiu Adebayo Ibrahim, whose transition was announced in a family statement yesterday.

In a condolence message to the Kwara State Government, the people of Kwara South Senatorial District, and the Ojoku Community in Oyun Local Government Area,  the minister  said he was saddened by news of the death of an illustrious son  of Kwara and former colleague with whom he had a healthy and productive working relationship.

According to him,  he and the late Senator  Ibrahim were freshmen senators in the Eighth National Assembly from 2015 to 2019, during which period Ibrahim  served as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance, and Other Financial Institutions, and was a member of the Media and Public Affairs Committee under the chairmanship of Senator Abdullahi.

The minister  described the late Ibrahim as a friend, brother, confidant, and reliable sounding board with whom he shared common views on the welfare of citizens and progress of the nation.

The deceased, he said, was an embodiment of passion, selflessness, and hard work. He noted that the late Senator Ibrahim was a truly distinguished gentleman whose persona radiated confidence and a ready willingness to co-operate in achieving the common good.

Sen. Sabi Abdullahi also recalled with fondness that the late Sen. Rafiu joined him in solidarity at the launch of a constituency project in his (Sabi’s) Niger North Senatorial District, and that the late Sen. Rafiu willingly stood in for the Senate President on the occasion, when the Chairman of the National Assembly could not arrive early enough owing to weather constraints.

The Honourable Minister of State prayed Almighty Allah to forgive the shortcomings of the late Sen. Rafiu, and to grant his soul aljannah firdaus. He equally urged members of the family of the deceased to be consoled by the remarkable accomplishments of the late Senator who has passed on at just the age of 57.

Meanwhile,  Senator Abdullahi has  expressed condolences to his erstwhile colleague in the Ninth Senate, Sen. Sadiq Suleiman Umar, who lost his father, Alhaji Suleiman Mora Omar, the Makama of Kaiama Emirate in Kwara State. According to him,  his common Borgu lineage with Sen. Sadiq means that the transition of the Makama is a loss to the larger Borgu Clan.

While praying for the repose of the soul of the late Alhaji Suleiman, the minister  noted that the legacies of exemplary service of the late Makama as an administrator and traditional ruler should be sources of comfort to the family.