There is a title in Ilorin that now carries the full weight of history, character and loyalty: Sardauna.
At the historic palace of the Emir of Ilorin, HRH Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, that title was formally conferred on His Excellency, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Governor of Kwara State. For those of us who have known the man for more than three decades, the turbaning was not merely a ceremonial gift. It was a recognition, long overdue, of a relationship built over years of friendship, generosity and steadfast loyalty that I have had the privilege of witnessing from close quarters.
My path first crossed with Malam Abdulrahman in the early 1990s, when I was a young reporter on the sports desk of the New Nigerian Newspapers, covering the annual polo tournament season.
Polo in those days was more than a sport. It was a gathering of Nigeria’s elite, and every tournament came with its own rituals, chief among them the pre-tournament press briefing. At one such briefing, my late friend, Senator Kabir Jibrin, who was then the tournament manager, gave me a preview of that year’s major sponsors before the official announcement.
That year, a new name entered the circle of sponsors, sending ripples through the polo community.
Alongside First Bank, the long-standing sponsor of the prestigious Georgian Cup, a young entrepreneur named AbdulRahman, founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Fuels, stepped forward with a donation running into millions of naira.
It was an audacious gesture for a newcomer and announced his arrival in a world long dominated by old money and established names. In the years that followed, he became a major sponsor of the Lagos and Kaduna polo tournaments, extending his patronage to trophies in Kano, Ibadan, Minna, Yola and Port Harcourt.
It was Senator Kabir Jibrin, of blessed memory, who formally introduced me to Abdulrahman at one of these tournaments. That introduction marked the beginning of a friendship that has endured unbroken to this day.
From our first conversations, I found him to be cool, calculated and remarkably generous — qualities that would come to define both his business dealings and his politics in the years ahead.
A friendship that survived politics
When Abdulrahman decided to contest the Kwara State governorship under the Congress for Progressive Change, he asked me to serve as his press secretary.
He lost that election, and many assumed that would be the end of the story.
It was not.
Our friendship survived that setback, sustained in the quieter years by nothing more than Friday messages exchanged faithfully between us. When he eventually became Governor of Kwara State, that friendship did not fade into the formality often imposed by office. Instead, it blossomed.
Today, that bond has grown to bridge two state governments.
When Sardauna wishes to speak with my principal, Governor Dikko Umaru Radda of Katsina State, he does not go through protocol. He simply calls me and asks, “Where is your Oga, Katsina or Abuja?”
That level of directness speaks to a trust built over years, not one manufactured for the cameras.
That trust was tested and proven last year when Governor Radda was involved in a minor accident. Sardauna called repeatedly for updates, and I assured him each time that our principal was well and stable.
I eventually connected the two governors by phone while Governor Radda was receiving treatment at an Abuja-based hospital. They spoke at length. Afterwards, Sardauna called me back personally to express his gratitude.
The very next day, he mobilised his fellow APC governors to Katsina House in Abuja to congratulate Governor Radda on surviving the crash — a gesture that, to me, captured the kind of friend Sardauna is.
A fitting honour at the Radda Model Smart School
That friendship was on full display again when Governor Radda selected Sardauna to commission one of his flagship legacy projects, the Radda Model Smart School, a multi-billion-naira educational facility.
Few could argue with the choice. Who else deserved that honour, if not the friend who had stood by him through crisis and celebration alike?
At the commissioning, I took the opportunity to introduce my colleague, MS Ingawa, to Sardauna. He received us warmly, turned to me and said in his characteristically playful manner, “Kaula, ka boye a Katsina” — Kaula, you are hiding in Katsina.
He added that he had been following my work and encouraged me to keep it up. He then summoned Governor Radda’s photographer to capture a picture of the three of us together.
It was a small but telling gesture that, to me, revealed the humility beneath the grandeur of his office.
It was around that same period that he quietly told me he would soon be turbanned as Sardauna of Ilorin.
That day finally came at the palace of the Emir of Ilorin, HRH Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from across the country, including Vice President Kashim Shettima.
A title that reflects an old friendship
It was therefore no surprise to me that when Governor Radda marked his 57th birthday, Sardauna, in his capacity as Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, penned the Forum’s congratulatory message on behalf of the 36 governors of the federation.
In the message, he wrote:
“On behalf of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), I extend our warmest congratulations to Your Excellency on the occasion of your birthday. Today, we celebrate not only another year of your life but also your dedication, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the progress and development of Katsina State and our nation as a whole.”
It was a fitting tribute from a friend whose loyalty, in my experience, had been proven long before any title was conferred on him.
From a polo field in the early 1990s to the palace of the Emir of Ilorin, the story of my friendship with Sardauna AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq is, in many ways, a story of Nigerian public life at its most personal — where relationships, once properly rooted, can outlast elections won and lost, survive accidents and crises, and eventually find expression in titles that merely give a name to what was already there.
On this note, I join family, friends and admirers across the country in congratulating His Excellency, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, on his turbaning as the Sardauna of Ilorin.
The title fits him because, in my experience, he had already lived it long before the ceremony gave it a name.
Ibrahim Kaula Mohammed is the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Katsina State.
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