Ademola Adedoyin
After five years of tour of duty as a Vice Chancellor, Professor Noah Yusuf bows out gracefully after a resoundingly successful headship of the fast growing Islamic faith-based citadel of learning,Al-Hikmah University.
Peaceful Disposition. Intellection. Calmness. The academic icon that we celebrate on this page for safe and peaceful landing after a successful tour of duty at the fast growing Islamic faith-based Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, shares those attributes with the Dove, the bird with ancient records of significant positive reputation and importance both in Islamic and Christian religions.
Professor Noah Yusuf’s meritorious service and safe landing after an uninterrupted five years flight as the Chief Pilot of this centre of faith and learning definitely evokes the image of a dove landing peacefully, eliciting feelings of calmness, serenity and accomplishments.
Like the Dove, Professor Yusuf epitomises a harbinger of the divine tidings, bringing messages of peace, intellection, love, and spiritual evolvement.
As an Islamic faith-based institution, we may never know if the pragmatic and exemplary founder of this great institution, our Baba, Alhaji (Chief), Dr AbdulRaheem Oladimeji, OFR, FNEAP, fspsp, Asiwaju and Jagunmolu of Igbomina land, Arogundade of Lagos and Baba Oba of Offa, went all out to search for a scholar with dovish disposition when he wanted to recruit a Vice Chancellor a little over five years ago.
What we know, however, with the appointment of Prof Yusuf as the head of the Institution is that Baba got a scholar who shared the Dove’s qualities of intellectual depth, peaceful disposition and spiritual essence most suitable for a faith-based institution of learning.
The Dove that arrived Al-Hikmah University five years ago to lead that institution to greater accomplishments definitely shares the same attributes with dove, the bird of peace who is reverred in Islamic Religion for its association with the Holy Prophet Mohammed (SAW). For aiding the Holy Prophet during the migration (Hijra) by distracting his enemies outside the Cave of Thawn, the Dove, in Islam, has come to symbolise peace, love and assistance
And it was the first known Noah, that is Prophet Noah, according to Biblical account, who possessed the Dove who returned from its flight with an olive branch in its beak, symbolising the end of the flood, a new beginning and reconnection with God. And now, the Noah of Al-Hikmah University. Truly, there is so much to a name.
On his appointment to lead this reputable university community five years ago, yours sincerely wrote a tribute, eulogising the don for his strides and commending the founder for the choice. That piece, with some editing and some additions to give an update, is deserving of a second read.
Without being immodest, this writer will, perhaps, pride himself as one of the most qualified to do a character sketch on the gentleman who, from modest beginnings, through diligence, untiring pursuits of excellence and, above all, grace of God, has climbed the academic ladder to the top, in a career that has spanned a little over three decades.
In a brotherly relationship that has spanned 50 unbroken years, and that does not include the primary school years, one has come to appreciate the essence and attributes of this academic gentle giant whose life is a lesson in God’s grace and man’s tenacity to climb the success ladder to the top.
The year was 1975. Precisely Friday, 5th September of that year. That was the day yours truly left his beloved Okeya-Ipo for Omupo Grammar School to commence his secondary school education. A year earlier, 1974 that is, Professor Noah Yusuf had arrived at the same institution and had already adjusted to life in a boarding school by the time one got in a year after.
I arrived Omupo Grammar School to the welcoming arms of three senior students: Alhaji Ganiyu Akande of blessed memory, final year student, who magnanimously immediately became my college father and later a lead geologist at NNPC, my caring, beloved sister, Sikirat Ronke Amolegbe also of blessed memory, a form 2 student, and, of course, Noah Yusuf, also a form 2 student.
With these three, settling down to boarding school life and class works was made seamless and stress free.
At that early stage of our lives, Noah’s caring attitude, peaceful disposition, and genuine concern for the plight of others stood out. While yours sincerely was on the lively, sociable, brilliant but restless side, Noah was reserved, contemplative, and studious. Even at that early stage, he was a sort of restraint factor who tried to rein in the restless spirit in the newcomer who appeared to be too much at home than his ‘hosts.’
Throughout our remarkable and exciting sojourn at OGS, I am sure there was no one who could suggest, let alone allude to any infraction against the school’s rules and regulations by Noah. Not just that he was studious and focused, he was obedient and law abiding.
Noah was too serene, quiet, and affable to cause any upset. One would not be surprised if some students who were in school with us didn’t know him or couldn’t recall who he was. He was just a man at peace with himself and who wanted to just excel in his chosen path without causing a stir.
When he left OGS in 1979, it was only a matter of short time for us to reunite again. He gained admission to the School of Basic Studies, SBS, Kwara State College of Technology, Ilorin, in 1979 for his Higher School Certificate, HSC studies. Yours sincerely joined him in 1980.
If Noah’s protective disposition at OGS made one’s academic odyssey at OGS high yielding, his brotherly guidance and love at Ilorin was no less so. We got even closer at Ilorin as we were roommates and had to share a lot of our items together. A gentle and organized soul who is a stickler for all the rules, he had to endure the carefree and, at times, disorganized temperament of his brother. His lecture notes were handy to make up for lectures that were missed.
In spite of his organized, quiet nature, he tolerated Mola and his crowd, who could even make studying in the room unbearable for him once in a while. And when we were out of pocket for reasons not too valid to disclose, Noah’s meal tickets came handy.
Even after parting ways in further pursuit of our academic, professional, and work careers, we never lost touch. Prof possesses lofty and noble ideals and can be tenacious in the pursuit of them. It may not be wrong to say that he probably has found a similar trait in this writer, hence his love for running ideas by him for his inputs, especially when they relate to our community and the issues of our nation.
I still recall the two young idealists sitting over a portable typewriter at his elder brother’s clock/wrist watch shop at Oyingbo, fashioning out how…
