HONORING THE HONORABLE: MEET OUR PERSON OF THE WEEK, BARRISTER DR. ABDUR-RAHEEM ADEBAYO SHITTU, FNCS

Introduction: The doctrine of St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), and later espoused by the famous theologian, John Wesley ((1703-1791) has taught us that, “In the things that are essential, there should be unity; in the things that are non-essential, there should be liberty; BUT in all things, there should be charity.” Charity, in this context, implies an unabated and uncompromising love – love so amazing, so divine, the kind that sustains humanity despite human frailties, personal/collective failures and obstruse unmeritability in the sight of God. It is the love that whispers to humankind, borrowing the words of the Rev’d Jesse Jackson, that “God is not done with us yet.” Our POW of today is a product of grace and essentially, a recipient of charity, the love that knows no bounds, and as we used to sing together in those days in our old chapel, the blessed “tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds (which) is like to that above . . .”

Today, we share unity with our POW Bayo Shittu in the nurturing care we all enjoyed under the roof of our Alma Mater, Baptist High School, Saki. With liberty, we have always lived our lives by the dictates of our individual consciences and personal convictions. But, more than anything else, the bond of love for our Alma Mater, and of our fellow alumni has always solidified us together. This is because we are all recipients of the essence of charity.

A Mortal with Traits of Humanity: Bayo Shittu is not perfect. Far from it! But who among us is? As Jesus Christ taught us, let the most perfect among us be the first to cast the first stone. As a typical politian, Shittu is sometimes controversial and seemingly polarizing. It’s the stuff politicians are made of. If they cannot generate controversies, they are written off in the radar of prominence; and in politics, out of sight is out of mind. I recall stories of him challenging our school, of which I confronted him. He told me it was all attributes of miscommunication and misinformation. I told him even if all were true or have elements of the truth, at BHS, we do not eat the venison of yesteryears in today’s stew. We must move on. And, besides, only a callous parent would leave the nutty child to stray into the tiger’s den. He must be accepted with the warm embrace of safety and love. We have long moved on, and our POW is back to being the man of the people.

I told my friend, Adebayo Shittu, that in human society, the most important ability is availability. It is the greatest asset that sells humans to humanity and transforms the ordinary person into an extraordinary personality. If you are obscure to the people, and they can’t tell who you are, you become oblivious to them, and the worst that a politician could experience is to be treated as a “persona non-grata” by his own people. He has long moved away from obscurity to visibility. He frequents Ṣaki now than ever, and I love that! I have had years of conversations with our POW and often told him that it is better to be a statesman than to be a politician. He has apparently worked hard on that. Politicians promise and never deliver; statesmen deliver even what they did not promise. Politicians like and use the people; statesmen love people, and they are okay by being used by their people. The most notable stateman in our nation’s history was Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Awolowo died in 1986, but still lives in the hearts, not just the in the minds, of his people; and so, he built a legacy that has passed the test of time. It is all because he refused to be a politician; instead, he chose to be a statesman.

I know Bayo Shittu very well. He and I used to compete on who would be the best student of the English language, in the class of the legendary Uncle B. I recently told him that I still have in my library the book Prize of our final year’s Best Student of English, Norman Vincent Peale’s “The Amazing Results of Positive Thinking.” It means I beat him! As an astute debater since our high school days, Shittu roars like a lion at a distance; but on a closer proximity, he acts like a lamb. It’s a different but positive quality to have the mouth of a tiger but the heart of a sheep. It is a virtue that makes you a leader, not just a boss; a man, not just a male. Shittu is non-conformist, and a man blessed with humorous dispositions. His intrinsic character assures me that he deserves success in the public space.

Lest I Forget: Our POW, Abdur-Raheem Adebayo Shittu, FNCS, was born on March 23, 1953, in Ṣaki, Ṣaki-West Local Government Area of Oyo State but lived his childhood life in Ghana. He completed his primary education at Chinderi, Volta Region, Ghana in 1965 and secondary education at Baptist High School, Ṣaki, Oyo State, in 1973. He studied Law at the University of Ife from 1974 to 1978, obtaining a Bachelor of Law (LLB) Degree with honors. He attended the required Nigerian Law School in Victoria Island, Lagos from 1978 to 1979, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in July 1979 as a Barrister at Law (BL) and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria the same year. In 2018, Shittu was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Public Administration (Honoris Causa) by the West African Union University, Cotonou, Republic of Benin.

A Great Achiever: Honestly, you could call him an over-achiever. Except with a mindset of self-deceit, as our elders say, no one should pretend that an elephant is invisible to the eye. If one’s daughter is beautiful, as the Yoruba often echo, why not say so? After all, no sane person should accuse one of wooing one’s own daughter for one’s bride. Shittu is probably the most decorated politician in our school’s history. Here is the indubitable evidence. I have said this several times among my classmates, and I have no problems repeating this again, and here is the preponderance of evidence:

1. He was elected as a Honorable Member of the Oyo State House of Assembly (1979 – 1983). He holds the record of being the youngest member of the old Oyo State House of Assembly when he was admitted into the state chamber at age 26. He was known to be a dynamic and astute parliamentary debater in the Assembly. I recall listening to him take on the charismatic governor, the late Bola Ige, convincing the latter to change some of his major policy decisions. I referred to him then as the invisible power that slayed the most mighty generals!

2. In light of his inclusive and adaptive leadership skills apparent in his parliamentary stints, Shittu became the Honorable Commissioner of Home Affairs, Information and Culture in Oyo State, in 1983. He was then only 30 years of age, an age considered impressive for anyone to hold such a pivotal portfolio.

3. Our POW of today was appointed Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State in 2007. That was another significant achievement for our Alma Mater, and a boost for the fame of our community as a whole.

4. In 2015, Shittu became the Federal Honorable Minister under the Buhari led Administration and served as Minister of Communications from 2015 – 2019. This is the highest political appointment ever enjoyed in Oyo North in many years of the Region’s participation in our national political governance.

In the course of his working career, as Honorable Minister, we talked a lot and I witnessed him attending many conferences, workshops, and seminars, both within and outside the country. I was impressed by his flair for intellectual discourses, a rarity among our ill-informed politicians. He has also played leadership roles in the ICT fora at home and abroad. He once attempted establishing an ICT university, during which I volunteered my support in scholarly and curricular advisements. Shittu pioneered the first ICT Roadmap (2017 – 2020) in Nigeria and under his leadership, a Director in the Ministry became the first African to Chair World Radio Communication Conference in 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Shittu has participated in several international fora on ICT and Telecoms where he gained geopolitical experience on policies and regulations in the ICT and Telecom industry.

Independent Operations: Shittu’s various services know no bounds. He is the Principal Partner and Chairman and CEO of the Crescent Chambers and Crescent Investments Ltd in Ibadan, Oyo State. As a young high school graduate, the impressionable Shittu started his career as class teacher in 1974 at his Alma Mater, Baptist High School, Ṣaki. In 1994, Shittu founded the International Muslim College, Ṣaki and also founded Al-Furqaan International College at Olode, near my village of birth, in Osun State in year 2000. He served as a member of the Oyo State Judicial Service Commission from 2004 to 2007 and later was a delegate to the National Political Reform Conference (National Confab) in 2005.

A Hero With Multiple Hats: Our POW of today, Barr. Dr. Adebayo Shittu has received several distinguished awards and certificates of honor. He is heavily titled. You could call him Alhaji, Doctor, Chief, Imam, Barrister, Honorable, etc., etc., and you would be right. As earlier noted, our friend was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree (Honoris Causa) by the West African Union University Cotonou, Republic of Benin in 2018. He became the Grand Patron of the Nigeria Information Technology Professional in Civil and Public Service in 2018. In the same year, he was made the Grand Patron of the Council for the Regulations of Engineering in Nigeria; and Fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society. There abounds to his credit countless awards in recognition of his outstanding community service and contributions to youth and students’ advancement, women empowerment, philanthropy and human capital development, just to mention a few.

National and Local Community Contributions: To Shittu’s credit, one of the functional Alumni Transportation Services of Baptist High School, Saki today is the School Bus that he donated during the Diamond Jubilee Anniversary of the School in 2018. Every single time I see this bus being used by the Alumni Foundations, including at my recent seventieth birthday celebration, I always appreciate the generous heart of my friend. Shittu has held various positions and served in various Committees, prominent among which are the Board of Trustees, Chairmanship of the Mohammadu Buhari and Osinbanjo (MBO) Dynamic Support Group, National Renewal Committee of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Constitution Review Committee of the APC, etc. Being a grassroots Politician of repute, the Olubadan of Ibadan land, Oba Saliu Adetunji – The Ajeogungunniso I, conferred on Dr. Shittu the Honorable Chieftaincy title of Agbaakin Fiwagboye of Ibadan land. Those familiar with Baba Ajeogungunniso like me, know that the late monarch did not just pick anyone for his conferment of chieftaincy titles. Being worthy of public trust is the quintessential panacea for Baba Ogungunniso’s choices. He must have seen something in Bayo Shittu to honor him with such culturally relevant chieftaincy title. He is also the Otunba of Erijiyan-Ekiti.

He has, to his credit, books and articles in journals, conference proceedings, creative writings, and technical reports on theological, intellectual and public affairs matters.

I always told Shittu he has the experience and energy to be whoever he wants to be in the political landscape of our nation. His is the proverbial Yoruba aphorism that “Àti kékeré nì’Mọ̀le ti ń kọ́mọ rẹ̀ l’ásọ̀.” He started his political aspiration far more than anyone else I know in our school’s history. It’s a platform in which he enjoys familiarity. Shittu was a gubernatorial Aspirant of the APC in Oyo State 2014 and in 2019. He is a reformer, astute debater and public affairs commentator.

Family: Our POW is happily married and blessed with children.

Song of Praise: Shittu is not a Christian; he is a Muslim who is not apologetic about his faith. But today, I am choosing for him all verses from the classical Christian hymn, composed by Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) and titled, Just As I am Without One Plea. . .

Just as I am, without one plea

But that Thy blood was shed for me,

And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,