Kwara State 2nd Grand Kadi, Justice AbdulMuttalib Ahmad Ambali (retd), is dead. He was 83 years.
Ambali died early hours of Thursday, at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Oke-Oyi, after a brief illness.
He was former Kwara State Sharia Court of Appeal judge. He later succeeded the late Justice Abdulkadir Orire, and pioneer Chief Registrar of Kwara State Sharia Court of Appeal as 2nd Grand Kali.
It was gathered that the Grand Kadi of Kwara State, Justice Abdullateef Kamaldeen confirmed the incident, and described the late Ambali, as a God-fearing Muslim scholar and competent judge.
According to him, the late Ambali upheld the tenet of Islam in everything he did while on earth.
“The fact that he died during Ramadan was significant and we asked Almighty Allah to forgive him and grant him, Aljanat Firdous.” He said.
Kamaldeen said the deceased was “gentle, unassuming, religious and a man of policy and principle who doesn’t take anybody for granted.
He disclosed that Ambali was always focused. He expressed his deep regret over his death. “Kwara has lost a top scholar and jurist. He was everything to me, my role model and mentor.” He said
Justice Kamaldeen said the deceased’s journey to meet Allah started on Sunday.
“This is just four days of illness. He was at a meeting last Sunday at Ansarul Islam as the Board of Trustees (BoT) chairman around 11:00 am and left around 3 pm.
“We discussed about getting visas for the Arabs in Ilorin whose stay in Nigeria is about to end and how we were going to get another one for them.
“Our discussion also touched on what we were going to present to them as a Ramadan gift and the proposed Kalamdeen University before he left.
“Suddenly, when he got home around 5:00 pm that Sunday, according to his wife, he was rushed to the hospital complaining of stomach.
“From Olalomi hospital, we took him to the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) and admitted him at the trauma centre.
“I was there four days ago and also yesterday (Wednesday) before I left around 1:30 am this morning and first went to drop his wife in GRA only to get home trying to rest when his wife called me and broke the news,” Kamaldeen added.
Credit: Daily Trust.
