Sultan, Tambuwal Confer Title, N10m On Qur’anic Recitation Winner

Thirty-six years since the National Qur’anic Recitation Competition (Dawrah) began in the country, the first Sokoto State indigene to clinch the first  position, Nura Bello Abdullahi, was on Sunday honoured by the Sultanate Council with the traditional title of Modibbon Sokoto by Sultan Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar III

LEADERSHIP reports that the annual competition started in 1986.

The Sultan, who was elated by Abdullahi’s feat, an undergraduate student of Computer Studies, pronounced the conferment of the title of Modibbon Sokoto (preceptor of Sokoto), the first of its kind in the history of the caliphate, on the competition winner “as a gesture of the caliphate demonstrating our willingness to work with you.”

The Sultanate’s gesture was complemented by Sokoto State Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, who  gave Abdullahi an automatic job in the state’s civil service as a public servant, but also gave him N10million, a graduate scholarship covering master’s and PhD studies and four Hajj seats.

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This was disclosed by a statement signed and issued by the special adviser media and publicity to governor, Muhammad Bello, on Sunday.

Another indigene of the state, Zainab Mahmoud Abdullahi, who emerged the Best Overall in the female category of the competition, got a cash prize of N3 million and Hajj seat from Governor Tambuwal, just as the Sultan, on behalf of the Sultanate Council, gave her a N500,000 cash gift.

While turbaning Abdullahi at the modest occasion held in the competitors’ honour at the International Conference Centre, Kasarawa in Sokoto, the Sultan, on behalf of the Sultanate Council also gave N500,000 to him.

Abdullahi emerged the 37th overall winner of the annual Qur’anic recitation competition, which was held last year in Gusau, Zamfara State capital.

Kano State had, on different occasions, won the coveted title 12 times, at one time during its second edition in 1987, producing the late Sheikh Jafar Mahmoud Adam (1960-2007), who rose to become a prominent Salafi scholar, before his death in 2007.

Kano State  was distantly followed  by Plateau State, which has produced six winners; while Bauchi and Zamfara States were at par with three winners each; followed by Borno and Kaduna States with two winners each.

Kebbi, Adamawa, Kwara, Kogi, Katsina, Gombe and Yobe States respectively, won the competition once over the years. It was not held in 1997, and was merged in 1998/1999, 2003/2004, 2007/2008 and 2021/2022; holding for the second time in 2022.

According to the statement, the Sultan was quoted as saying that, “this feat by a young man whose lean stature belies his superlative achievement, deserves to be recognized. This is why we have decided to bring him into the orbit of the Sultanate Council so that his talents would be harnessed in its service, Nigeria and the whole of humanity.”

The Sultan used the occasion to congratulate other winners of Sokoto State origin, who won the competition both at the state and the national levels last year.