Sheikh Ahmed Lemu founder of Islamic Education Trust answered Allah’s call this morning. It is worthy of mentioning that he also founded The Dawah Coordination Council Of Nigeria and became its first President while Sheikh Abduqadir Orire first Grand Qadi of Kwara State was the Vice President for the North and my humble self was Vice President for the South.
If we are to have a Chronicle of ten people who have impacted extensively on Islamic proselytisation in Nigeria the name of double Sheikh Ahmed Lemu would be part.
He hailed from Lemu village but he established IET when he was the Principal of Sokoto Arabic college over 50 years ago with his British convert wife late Hajia Aisha Lemu. Both husband and wife became instant celebrities when they pioneered the writing and publishing of Islamic books which are textbooks in primary and secondary schools. Hajia Aisha was so versatile that she unarguably is the most prolific female Islamic writer in contemporary history.
Today without any fear of being contradicted and unequivocally IET is the largest Islamic centre in Nigeria . It has an Islamic centre which includes a big Masjid both in Minna and Abuja and many small Mosques scattered all over the Eastern states where IET has Islamic propagation Centres, publishing company, a bookshop,a nursery , primary and secondary schools both in Minna and Abuja and An Islamic training Institute .
To reduce looking for funds for their multifarious and multidimensional Dawah initiatives, there is a section that is involved in entrepreneurship and large scale farming. It is to the credit of the fertile brain and dynamism of the British wife Hajia Lemu that FOMWAN the umbrella organisation organisation for all Muslim Women was founded and she became the first National president.
Many Prominent Niger state indigenes including two Nigerian Presidents passed under Sheikh Lemu’s tutelage as Students. These are Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdusaalam Abubakar.
A lot of us had our first taste of thorough Dawah training under Sheikh Ahmed Lemu in our MSSN days. Former Governors like Ibrahim Shekarau, Ahmed Muazu and deputy Governors like Alh Musa Ayeni of Ondo state to mention but a few. VIP’s like the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu, FCT Minister Muhammad Musa Bello, Ishaq Oloyede of JAMB, Yusuf Ali celebrated senior Advocate of Nigeria all of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria ( MSSN) extraction.
Sheikh Lemu is very humorous. In fact with him there was no dull moment. Allah has blessed him with many fantastic and Islamically amazing children most cerebral are the two children of Aisha the British wife, Nurudeen and Maryam. They are good replacements for their demise parents. If you meet Sheikh and say how is Hajia Aisha, he would ask you is it Hajia one or Haja two ? because the two wives have an identical name Aisha. So the first wife also of blessed memory and the British wife after accepting Islam also adopted Aisha as her name.
If Sheikh was to introduce himself he would say I am double Shaikh Ahmed Lemu because my parents gave me the name Shehu which is the local way of calling Sheikh and when I acquired some knowledge of Islam they also started calling me Sheikh. That is why I am double Sheikh. Immediately we institutionalized National Council Of Muslim Youth Organisation (NACOMYO) he didn’t call me by my name again but SARIKIN SAMARI which means Leader of Youths in Hausa.
I am happy I took the right decision by attending the 50th anniversary of IET early this year. It was a difficult decision taken as a tribute to this great man created by Allah for the elasticisation of Islamic proselytisation . One, the road from Abuja to Minna is appalling from a man like me with a fragile and fractured health.Secondly the road from minna to Abuja is reputed for the negative reason , kidnapping and banditry.
It however occurred to me that may be the last opportunity for me to pay tribute and respect to one of the greatest Muslim scholars of our time. If I didn’t go it would have been a regret of a life time . Alh Abdul Arisekola Alao and Alh MKO at the ceremony were to be given posthumous award. Lukman Arisekola Alao was to represent Arisekola Alao but attempts to get a representative for MKO Abiola’s family was an effort in futility. So I had to represent Abiola’s family at the event. The plague for MKO Abiola is right now in my Abuja house.
On the way to and from Abuja Lukman who travelled with me said hundreds of Ayat Qursiyyu. Alhamdulilah apart from the bad road it was a smooth journey. No news of kidnapping on that road where the former National president of both MSSN and NACOMYO Alh Maidoki and his family had a nasty experience of being kidnapped until a heavy ransom got them out of the gulag of these Ungodly hoodlums. I saw our father Sheikh Lemu who is now very fragile in the presence of one his aides of over 30 years Alh Ibrahim Yahya. Old age had taken a toll on his erstwhile sharp memory. It took almost two minutes before he could recognise me and murmured SARIKIN SAMARI!
I would forever remember that moment
May Double Shaikh Ahmed Lemu’s gentle soul rest in Aljannah Firdaous
(Edited by Engr. Bashir Lawal)
Ishaq Kunle Sanni is the Chairman Oyo State Muslim Community
