By Omoba Wale Ojetimi
In this tribute to our man of the moment, Professor Dhikrullah Adewale Yagboyaju, I’ll deviate a bit from his later years acquaintances’ knowledge of him and xray his life outside the academia, especially his early background and avowed commitment to service to humanity.
In these past 48 years of knowing him as a schoolmate (not classmate) at the prestigious Baptist High School, Ede, Professor Yagboyaju had always been conscious of the sanctity of his pedigree and has continued to live up to it till date without blemish.
Even during his very naughty teenage years of youthful exuberance (believe me, Prof. Yagboyaju had more than his fair share of it but that’s a discussion for another more opportune time), he managed to successfully outgrow those periods of innocence without compromising the family’s nobility. This experience also helped shape his spirituality and positive attributes of fairness, firmness, tolerance, discipline and tireless support for any noble deed that benefits humankind even at great personal sacrifice.
Scion of Alhaji (Chief) Yisa Yagboyaju, the late Ibadan-based charismatic Muslim leader and philanthropist who passed on in 2012, Professor Yagboyaju is a chip off the old block of the renown late community leader and enormously wealthy businessman.
To his credit, the late Alhaji Yisa Yagboyaju championed the promotion of Islamic education in scores of secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria from the 1970s to 1990s through his huge financial investments in sponsorship of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN). This includes scholarship awards to indigent Muslim students, donation of dozens of brand new buses to various MSSN units, sponsorship of radio and television programs on Islamic propagation and annual holiday vacation camps for Muslim youths, among others. He was also among prominent Muslim leaders who established and donated classroom blocks for the take-off of Ede Muslim Grammar School which turns 50 years this month.
Putting this into historical context to understand the significance of this noble and courageous endeavor, Christianity was the ‘unofficial’ religion of most schools in South West Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s. So, we must, therefore, give kudos to anyone courageous enough to spearhead Islamic propagation in schools at that time.
Alhaji Yisa Yagboyaju’s motto during his lifetime was; “the best among mankind is the one who brings benefits to others.”
These antecedents should suffice in telling us where Professor Dhikrullah Yagboyaju is coming from and how he’s the chip off the old block we know him to be today.
Professor Yagboyaju is not only a leader of thought in the academia, he’s also a well-respected community leader in the society at large. Unassuming to a fault, his humility and sterling stewardship qualities earned him many leadership roles in several reputable organisations including the presidency of Muslims Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ede Baptist High School Old Students Association worldwide and Ede Unique Club, for a record 12 years, among others.
As one of the earliest members and a strong pillar of Ede Unique Club, a community-based service/sociocultural organization comprising leaders in the professions, business, the academia and public service established 41 years ago, Professor Yagboyaju’s invaluable contribution has continued to attract so much enormous goodwill and robust patronage towards the club, endearing it to several high net worth individuals.
Although my association with him dated much earlier, it was our single mindedness on Ede Unique Club matters that drew us much closer as we both worked tirelessly together on many club projects and assignments which placed the club on such an enviable pedestal today.
Of all of Professor Yagboyaju’s accomplishments, the one that continues to truly amaze me and some other discerning minds was his organic transformation from being a successful business man into becoming an academic – and seamlessly too. Why this deserves to be subject of academic inquiry is that not many who have traversed the business world as a national and international entrepreneur with all its lure of wealth and opulence could have easily adapted to an entirely spartan life and rigors of the academics.
Well, I’ll leave that riddle for scholars to interrogate.
Congratulations Professor Dhikrullah Adewale Yagboyaju!
Welcome to the Sixth Floor!
