At moments like this when the years have advanced and a man has given most out of his character and his endowments to his community and to the world, it is customary for the world to also take a look back and pronounce on the worthiness or otherwise of his or her contributions to life and to community. So it is with Professor Phillip Olusola Olatunji as he turns 70 years of age, a symbolic date within the human life span. The world looks back at Professor Olatunji’s “report card” and all they see is worthiness, a life of exemplary deeds and pursuits.
Prof Olatunji is of course many individuals rolled into one and he can be described from many angles of experience – as a sound academic, a proficient clinician, a devout Christian, a devoted husband, a dedicated father, a motivational speaker, and a committed activist. Remarkably, Professor Olatunji is as distinguished and outstanding in each as he is in the other, and in all together.
For those of us who have interacted with him within ASUU, as we also watch his activism with admiration, it would appear very much as if his Christianity feeds seamlessly into this activism, or, put differently, that his activism within ASUU is an extension of his evangelical zeal for truth, integrity and justice in all matters of existence. Prof. Olatunji’s emergence as a motivational force within ASUU and later within the 49+ family follows a familiar trajectory based on the outstanding qualities of his person.
Professor Olatunji has shown and continues to show still an abundance of energy and resilience, as a warrior for the truth, whether as a member of the union’s committee working on the report to the Presidential Visitation Panel to the University of Ilorin at the time, as a member of the editorial board of The Clarion, or as part of the Union’s delegations to one place or the other in the course of the union’s struggle for emancipation of and justice for its members.
The struggle for justice in UNILORIN is by now very well known. Professor Olatunji was a rock of support in this struggle of the academic union and that of the victimized UNILORIN 49+. After the unjust termination of appointment of this group, he was a major participant in coordinating donations from fellow medics and from sundry other sources for those sacked members who had no sources of income and were in dire need; apart from himself giving every support he could muster.
Many would recall Dr. Olatunji’s role, along with others, in crisscrossing Ilorin, Abuja, Ibadan and Port Harcourt on the trail of the then Minister of Health and the then Chairman of the Board to explain and protect the position of the union and the sacked academics, staunch, unrelenting, until the positions of the affected members in the Teaching Hospital were saved.
Professor Olatunji’s professional expertise also came into focus at other critical times. Once was when my wife was in a near death, condition, having suffered a post-surgery deep vein thrombosis (DVT), Prof. Olatunji practically burnt himself out, professionally and spiritually, ensuring she was well-evaluated as she recovered at home. It was quite a sight to see Prof Olatunji come around dutifully every day with a tape rule to direct the measurement of the thighs in order to monitor the effectiveness of the prescribed therapy. That was Prof Olatunji - always scientific and methodical in his approach; also, patient and generously kind.
In the entire period of the crisis, Professor Olatunji never for once expressed doubt about the justness of our action or the certainty of success. A dependable ally, he maintained a straight course all through. He also kept a family life that was a model, with his supportive wife constantly by his side, and his children also quietly bearing whatever needed to be borne as a fallout from the struggle. Their home was home to many (relations, students, church members, etc.) even during the crisis.
Eventually, when offered a Chair in Ogun State University, Ago-Iwoye, our dear brother, friend and comrade, Prof. Olatunji relocated from Ilorin.. We have remained as one family since then, distance notwithstanding. Perhaps more elating is the report that our highly esteemed and renowned Professor of Haematology has remained his old dependable, humane and committed self.
Knowing Prof. P.O. Olatunji and his family has been a pleasant and rewarding experience, both for me and for the UNILORIN 49+, the large, courageous family that I have had the rare privilege to represent in the past two decades or so.
Well, another life begins at 70! On behalf of myself, my wife and children, and the larger ASUU 49+ group, I wish Professor Philip Olatunji many many more truthful, honest, dependable and rewarding years of excellent health and unrelenting service to humanity.
Dr Taiwo Oloruntoba-Oju
Chairman, UNILORIN 49+ Foundation for Justice