This is contained in a statement signed by the State Commissioner of Information, Malam Mohammed Garba and issued to newsmen in Kano on Wednesday. The Kano state government has declared Friday, May 11, as a public holiday in honour of late Isiyaku Rabiu who died on Tuesday at a London hospital.

He said the public holiday was declared to enable Muslims in the state to attend the funeral prayer of the deceased which is scheduled to take place on Friday at the Sheikh Isyaku Rabiu Juma’at mosque in Kano metropolis.

According to the Commissioner, the funeral prayer will take place at 2:30 pm immediately after Juma”at prayer.

A renowned philanthropist, business mogul and Islamic cleric, Khalifa Sheikh Rabi’u died on Tuesday at a London hospital after a protracted illness. The remains of the deceased is expected to arrive Kano on Thursday. Rabiu, 93, died in a London hospital after a protracted illness.

He is survived by his wives, 42 children amongst whom are his first son, Nafiu Rabiu; Founder & Chairman of BUA Group, Abdul Samad Rabiu and Chairman of IRS Airlines, Rabiu Isyaku Rabiu among others.

Rabiu was born in 1925 to the family of prominent Islamic scholar, Muhammadu Rabiu Dan Tinki, from Bichi, Kano State.

He moved to Maiduguri in 1942 to further his Islamic studies and 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 Quran.

In the early 1950s, Khalifa Sheikh Rabi’u ventured into commercial enterprise and established Isyaku Rabiu & Sons in 1952. He was later made Khalifa (Leader) of the Tijjaniyya Islamic sect in Nigeria by leaders of the Tijjaniyya Islamic Movement in Tunisia in the early 1990s.

A devout Muslim and philanthropist, Rabi’u was committed to the propagation of Islam and helping the needy and until his death, he lived in his Goron Dutse residence in Kano metropolis. Condolence registers have since been opened at IRS & BUA Group offices nationwide.