The Chief Imam of Ilorin and Chairman of the Kwara State Council of Ulama, Sheikh Bashir Saliu, has died on Monday at the age of 75.
The respected Islamic scholar has been the Chief Imam of Ilorin for about 42-year, making him the longest-serving holder of the position since 1900.
Born in 1950 into the prominent Alfa Omo family of Baboko, Sheikh Soliu was deeply rooted in Islamic scholarship from birth. He was the son of Imam Saliu Omo Onida Abdulkadir, the seventh Chief Imam of Ilorin, and was widely regarded as being groomed for spiritual leadership from early age.
His formative education began at the Magaji Baboko Qur’anic School and the Shaykh Abubakar Sakama School, before he proceeded for advance Islamic training under Shaykh Musa Nuhu Elere at Alanamu, where he spent six years in intensive scholarly study. In 1974, he graduated from the renowned Al-Mahad Al-Azhar Institute, specialising in Arabic and Islamic Sciences.
Following the death of Imam Musa Ahmad in 1983, the then Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Zuluqarnain Muhammadu Gambari, appointed Bashir Soliu as the 12th Chief Imam of Ilorin.
At just 33 years old, he became the youngest person ever to occupy the revered position.
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