The late leader of Tijjaniyya Movement in Nigeria, Sheikh Isyaku Rabiu, will be buried tomorrow according to Islamic rites.
A statement signed by family members said the remains of the renowned Kano businessman and famous cleric are expected to arrive Kano later today. The Khalifa Sheikh Isyaku Rabiu, passed away on Tuesday in a Londonhospital after a brief illness at the age of 93.
Consequently, the Kano State government has declared tomorrow a public holiday in honour of the late renowned philanthropist, business mogul and Islamic cleric, Khalifa Rabiu.
A statement signed by the state Commissioner of Information, Malam Muhammad Garba, and made available to journalists yesterday, said the public holiday was to enable Muslims in the state to attend the funeral prayer scheduled to take place at the Sheikh Isyaku Rabi’u Juma’at mosque, Goron Dutse in Kano metropolis at 2:30pm immediately after Juma”at prayer.
The late Rabiu is survived by his wives, 42 children amongst whom are his first son, Nafiu Rabiu; founder and chairman of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and owner of IRS Airlines, Rabiu Isyaku Rabiu amongst other notable offspring, as well as by hundreds of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The statement said condolence registers had been opened at the offices of IRS and BUA Group nationwide.
The late scholar was born in 1925 to the family of prominent Islamic scholar, Muhammadu Rabiu Dan Tinki, a Qur’anic preacher from the Bichi area of Kano State who led his own Qur’anic school. He grew up memorising the Qur’an and learning Arabic from where he moved to Maiduguri in 1942 to further his Islamic studies.
In 1946, he returned to Kano to establish himself as an Islamic scholar, and by 1949 he had become an independent teacher of Arabic and the Qur’an.
In the early 1950s, Khalifa Sheikh Rabiu ventured into commercial enterprise and established Isyaku Rabiu and Sons Ltd in 1952. Originally, the firm acted as an agent of UAC and was trading in sewing machines, religious books and bicycles. In 1958, the firm had a breakthrough when Kaduna Textile Limited was established and it became one of the early distributors, leading to the establishment of his own procurement agency for textiles produced by the Kaduna Textiles Agency.
He soon emerged as the leading distributor of the company in Northern Nigeria, By 1963, he joined a consortium of businessmen from Kano who came together to form the Kano Merchants Trading Company. He was later to set up the Kano Suit and Packing Cases Company, producing suit cases and handbags, and by 1972, he established the Bagauda Textile Mills whilst also continuing the selling of sewing machines.
From then on he established a series of ventures in different segments of the economy, including frozen food service, real estate, sugar and a motor vehicle and parts distribution company specialised in Daihatsu products.
However, unfavourable exchange rates and economic conditions forced the company to scale back on manufacturing and return to its trading roots. He Was An Epitome Of Scholarship, Entrepreneurship – PMB Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has described the death of Isyaka Rabiu, as a colossal loss not only to the field of learning, but also the business sector.