Posted on: 10:58 Sun, 21 May 2017

As a way to immortalise and honour the memory of the State’s first governor, the Kwara State University has been named after the late Senator Olusola Saraki.



The Kwara State government has renamed its university after the late strongman of Kwara politics, Olusola Saraki.

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, made the announcement in Ilorin at the inauguration of the Sola Saraki Educational Foundation on Friday, May 19, 2017.
Ahmed, who declared that the Kwara State University, KWASU, would henceforth be called Sola Saraki University, explained that renaming the university was a better way of immortalising the late politician.

He said the late Waziri of Ilorin, had immense love for education as evident in his contributions to the building of several primary and secondary schools across the state.

The governor called on individuals and corporate bodies to invest in education as a way of securing the future of the children and donated N15 million for the takeoff of the foundation.

Sola Saraki was the father of Bukola Saraki, Nigeria’s Senate president. He was born on May 13, 1933 in Ilorin, Kwara State, he was until his death regarded as the “strongman of Kwara politics”. He first ran in the 1964 parliamentary election for Ilorin as an independent candidate but lost.

After the election, he returned to medical practice in Lagos, only returning to party-politics in 1978/79.

In 1977, Mr. Saraki was elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly that produced the 1979 constitution.

Sakari died on Wednesday 14th November 2012 in Lagos at the age of 79 after a battle with cancer.