TRIBUTE: Uncompromising, Honest, Humane – Oladoyin Odebowale Hails Late Prof Lateef Akanni Hussain

TRIBUTE: Uncompromising, Honest, Humane – Oladoyin Odebowale Hails Late Prof Lateef Akanni Hussain.

Professor Lateef Akanni Hussain.

First Class Physicist, the very first of the Department of Physics, University of Ibadan.

Ascetic, uncompromising, honest and humane, he was one of the genuine scholars of the University of Ibadan, a real eccletic.

He was the Vice Chancellor of LASU who fought corruption to a standstill in that place.

He forced many redundant elements to justify their existence in the university. Many peripatetic academics were given the option to teach or resign, one of them being a notorious absentee Professor. That character is still in the Senate.

He fought sleaze, among other acts of moral turpitude. The corrupt elements mobilised themselves and forced him to resign.

He was given a flat in the new middle cost housing units built by Fashola to live in after he left office. He had no house and he was due for retirement at Ibadan. As VC, he was accused of many things but not corruption. He stood out.

I could count him as a friend and mentor. He believed in me. I used him and other progressive academics to save the careers of many activists in UI. He detested the rogues in ASUU till the end. He stood for justice.

I celebrate the passing of a true friend who joined the pantheon of our ancestors yesterday.