By Alh. Lateef OluFemi Okunnu SAN
I received the sad news of Prof. Lateef Hussain’s death almost as soon as it happened.
To paraphrase Thomas Babington Macaulay in his ‘’Lays of Ancient Rome’’:
‘’To every man upon this earth, Death cometh soon or late.
And how can a man die better,
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his father’s
And in the service of his God’’.
Lateef did, as I can testify. I had known Lateef as a childhood friend of my young cousin, Mikaila Babatunde Gafar.
Prof. Hussain left his mark on the sands of time : in the academic world leading to his appointment as Vice Chancellor of Lagos State university, to social life in Lagos, and lately his commitment to Islam.
When the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria told me, Sheik Hafiz Abu (Baba Adini of Lagos) and a few other Ansars in 2006 that it had no money to take back and administer its three flagship secondary schools, we told the Society that we would take the schools back from the Lagos State Government as the new proprietors.
They are : Ansar-Ud-Deen College, Isolo: Ansar-Ud-Deen Girls High School, Itire: Ansar-Ud-Deen Grammar School, Surulere.
We incorporated Ansar-Ud-Deen Education Trust (ADET) for the purpose. And we set up the following organs to guide us in the administration of the schools :
(a)The Board of Trustees
(b)A Board of Governors for each school.
We made a public Appeal for donations, and we collected about N110,000.000. We employed a principal and 14 teachers for each school.
The agreement with Lagos State Government was to admit students into JSS 1 and SS 1 class into each school over a period of three years, from 2007, and for Ansar-Ud-Deen Education Trust (ADET) to take over complete control of the schools thereafter.
In 2007, we admitted only the following number of students :
(i)Ansar-Ud-Deen College, Isolo-7 students.(ii)Ansar-Ud-Deen Girls High School, Itire-5 students
(iii)Ansar-Ud-Deen Grammar School, Surulere-3 students
Today, we have the following student population in our schools :
(i)Ansar-Ud-Deen College, Isolo-448 students.
(ii)Ansar-Ud-Deen Girls High School, Itire-114 students.
(iii)Ansar-Ud-Deen Grammar School, Surulere-363 students
Prof. Lateef Hussain was one of the first set of Trustees we appointed to administer the Ansar-Ud-Deen Education Trust schools in 2007, though he actually joined the Board of Trustees a few years after its inauguration. He never turned his back on the Board until serious illness struck him down.
He served very creditably as the chairman of the Human Resource Committee of Ansar-Ud-Deen Education Trust (ADET).
As the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, I assigned a special task to Prof. Hussain.
Our College of Education at Isolo was closed down due to labour dispute in 2016. After consultation with the chairman of Lagos Branch of the Society (the proprietor), I appointed a Reconciliation Committee with Prof. Hussain as the chairman on 10th October 2018. The committee submitted its Report in December 2018.
The committee recommended the setting up of a Management Committee to reopen the college.
Prof. Hussain was appointed the chairman of the 7 – man Management Committee which re-opened the College of Education in May 2019 and he secured it in that capacity until January 2022.
Prof. Hussain was a first class scholar, a committed administrator especially as Vice Chancellor of Lagos State University, a committed Muslim and an amiable colleague.
May Allah forgive him his sin
May Allah admit him into Aljana
Alhaji Lateef Olufemi Okunnu, SAN, CON.
Chairman,
Board of Trustees,
Ansar-ud-Deen Education Trust.
3rd August, 2022
