When old students celebrated 92-yr-old pioneer principal of alma mater

IT was yesterday once more on Saturday, 24 November, 2019, as old students of Anwar-ul-Islam Grammar School, Eleyele, Ibadan, Oyo State, converged on the residence of the man who personifies the history of their alma mater, Alhaji Jimoh Gbadamosi, in Surulere, Lagos, to celebrate the distinguished educationist and show him their love and reverence.

The old students, some of whom are fathers, mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers as well as accomplished serving and retired professionals, for about one and a half hours, stared with awe and rapt attention at the articulate and clear-headed nonagenarian oga (boss), as many of them would prefer to call him, as he revisited former times and gave a lucid explanation of the coming into being of an institution that was originally named Ahmadiyya Grammar Scool, Eleyele, Ibadan.

Alhaji, Gbadamosi, who has now been dealt visual impairment by old age, showed no deterrents in all his other senses as he smiled broadly with happiness and satisfaction as he actively engaged his ‘progenies’ with unmistakable alertness.

The president of the Ahmadiyya/Anwar-ul-Islam Grammar School Old Students Association (AGSOSA), Captain Tajudeen Alao (retd), who led different sets of the former students of the school on the visit, described the sterling legacy of the 92-year-old Gbadamosi as one that has continued to have a far-reaching impact on the successive generations of students in the school.

Alao said the purpose of the visit was to spend time with the man who laid the foundation of their alma mater and shaped it to be a moulder of great minds. According to him, the accomplishments of the “distinguished” school administrator are legendary and have continued to reverberate within and outside the school from generation to generation. “It is an honour on our part because our source, the root, is this man. He established that school from scratch. It is what he did that we are building on today. We want to put to the whole world, the journey so far, from when this man started, to when we were in school, up to today. We want to sustain the legacy and continued growth of our school,” he added.

Also, the first vice president of AGSOSA, Alhaji Olanrewaju Hussein, said: This visit is very significant because some of us were not born and others were very little when this man was principal of our alma mater. His words: “Whatever success I have made of my life today, this school was the basis. Anything I am, I was built in that school. So, seeing the person who pioneered the establishment of that school is a fantastic feeling for me. I am grateful to God to be here today.”

In his remarks, the national public relations officer of the association, Alhaji Kamorudeen Aderibigbe, described the visit of AGSOSA to the first principal of Ahmadiyya Grammar School, Eleyele, Ibadan, now Anwar-ul-Islam Grammar School, as symbolic. “I regard it as a very rare privilege. In the first instance, I had not been born when Pa Jimoh Gbadamosi (OON) started as the pioneer principal of the school in February 1955. Secondly, I was in Gbadamosi House as a student of the school. I have learnt a lot of lessons from our interaction with our legendary papa for over two hours. He ry well, sounded veboth in English and Yoruba and was well coordinated. He remembered his activities as a young man in the 50s and 60s, mentioning names of those he came across without mincing words,” he said.

Also, the Lagos State chairman of the association, Alhaji Moshood Ikeola, said it was a privilege to be able to set his eyes on the first ever principal of his alma mater. “This is a joyful thing for me in the sense that people that were not born when he was the pioneer principal are here today to hear from the horse’s mouth. We pray that he gets to live up to 100 years and we pray that we have the grace to meet him again then and celebrate him,” Ikeola stated.

Earlier, the immediate past president of AGSOSA, Alhaji Olayiwola Alaka, in introducing himself, had mentioned a name, Machinery, which he assumed when he attended Ahmadiyya College, Agege between 1967 and 1968 (then presided over by Alhaji Gbadamosi, after having left the elementary school in Eleyele, Ibadan) for his Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC). Not only did Alhaji Gbadamosi recognise “his boy” but he also went on to explain the circumstances of that name – to the amazement of his visitors.

Alhaji Gbadamosi, who showed no fatigue while the interaction lasted, described the visit as one that filled him with so much joy. He expressed gratitude to God for the opportunity to have led a good life so far and for allowing him a good use of his eyesight for so many years.

“I am happy that you were boys when you were admitted to the school and now you have become fathers and possibly grandfathers. At the time I was appointed the principal of Ahmadiyya Grammar School, Eleyele, Ibadan, I was 28 years old but I am happy to tell you that I clocked 92 in March [2019]. I was born on 18 March, 1927,” Alhaji Gbadamosi said and noted that he accumulated the knowledge of life in Ibadan which he went on to describe as the home of the wise.

He had these parting words for his guests: “I implore you to make patience and contentment your watchwords. Be prayerful and refrain from anything that is capable of staining your family name.”

The highlight of the event was the presentation of the “Award of Meritorious Service” and various gifts to the nonagenarian.