By Mike Adeyemi
An association named Agboola Gambari movement has unveiled and presented the first phase of completed projects in the honor of their Grand Patron and Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, Prof. Ibrahim Agboola Gambari.
The event which was attended by eminent personalities across the country was held at Ciroma House, Centre-Igboro, Ilorin, yesterday.
Speaking with our reporter shortly after the event, the national president of the association, Alabi Saliu Ahmed described Gambari as an epitome of the tenets and culture of Alimi dynasty.
“Today we decided to celebrate the chief of staff to the president, Prof Agboola Gambari for his immense contribution to the development of Kwara and indeed Nigeria.
“He has accomplished much in his life. After his retirement from the United Nations, he was appointed Pro-Chancellor of Kwara State University for five years and he performed excellently well. During his time at KWASU, the university was ranked one of the best in Nigeria,” Alabi affirmed.
He said, ‘based on his ideology and principle, President Muhammadu Buhari appointed him the Chief of Staff. I believed this is coming owing to his antecedents and contributions to Nigeria.’
He added that the movement under his leadership decided to organise the presentations to celebrate him.
“We decided to organise this for him so as to honor him and we have been able to do many humanitarian projects like boreholes in this area. Our road is prone to accident and we have puts bumps in strategic location to avert this,” he said.
Also speaking at the event, the Balogun Fulani of Ilorin, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku lauded the efforts of the association by reaching out to the community and described Gambari as a good ambassador of Ilorin Emirate.
“I want to appeal to well meaning people in the state to emulate Prof. Agboola Gambari’s gesture to the people of Ilorin emirate and indeed Kwara State at large,” the traditional ruler urged.
In the same vein, a retired permanent secretary in the state, Mall. AbdulKadir Usman commended the presentation of the project and handouts to aged women to cushion their businesses as a laudable one.
“It is a landmark achievement because for decades now we have not witnessed such a kind gesture in Ilorin. All hands must be on deck to support the present government both at the state and federal levels.
“The handout is in line with the dictates of the present administration. So it is like an assistant or support for the community and it is a good gesture to emulate,” he said.
Projects unveiled at the event includes, distribution of 2000 face masks, 250 wash hand basins to various mosques and churches, rehabilitation of motorised borehole at late Emir Aliyu AbdulKadir compound, empowerment of 50 small business owners with cash gift, and construction of four speed breakers along Princess Street, Centre- Igboro area, Ilorin.
