It seems like yesterday that we first met, but it is over 48 years. When I say we, I refer to members of the 1977/78 Set of Anwar-Ul Islam College Agege Old Students Association (ACAOSA) who entered the school either in January or September 1973. Those little boys of yesterday are now men in their own right. This is why today, all roads lead to the Civic Centre on Victoria Island, Lagos, as friends and family members gather to celebrate a member of that set, Alhaji Lawal Alade Pedro (SAN), at 60. Peddy, as he is fondly called by friends, no longer belong to the set alone as he is today the President-General (PG) of ACAOSA. A true Omo Eko, Pedro grew up on Lagos Island, where he spent most of his formative years. He was born to the families of Libento Momoh Pedro and Ojikutu-Ambose branch of the Akinsemoyin royal house in 1961.
Pedro was born to lead, impact and touch lives. He started exhibiting these traits from childhood. Today, these traits have blossomed as he shines as a star wherever he is. Pedro, who retired as Permanent Secretary and Solicitor-General of Lagos State Ministry of Justice in 2015, has been PG of ACAOSA since 2011.
He had his elementary education at Christ Church Cathedral Primary School, Broad Street, Lagos Island, between 1966 and 1972 and proceeded to Ahmadiyya College, Agege, now known as Anwar-Ul Islam College, between 1973 and 1978 .
As ACAOSA PG, he has been mobilising the old students to join hands with him in restoring the glory of their alma mater, which is the first Muslim college in West Africa. Under his leadership, the school has undergone tremendous transformation with landmark infrastructure all over the place.
H isis achievements have not gone unnoticed. The owners of the school, the Anwar-Ul Islam Movement of Nigeria, led by Alhaji Mubashiru Ojelade, a lawyer and also an old student, have been working closely with the Pedro-led ACAOSA executive committee for the betterment of the college.
Pedro is a tireless warhorse. Under him, ACAOSA has been growing from strength to strength. Among his numerous achievements are:
- Registration of ACAOSA with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
- Registration of UK ACAOSA M.I.S. Funds Enterprises on behalf of ACAOSA UK Chapter
- Settting up of multi-purpose committees on education, sports, infrastructure & renewal to serve as a blueprint for the college’s development.
- Revision and adoption of the association’s constitution
- Renovation of one-block of building comprising nine classrooms and the Principal’s office.
- Built and equipped the college’s clinic with the assistance of the UK chapter.
- Construction of a mosque now nearing commissioning.
Standard laboratories built and equipped by the Federal Government under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
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- Renovation of the football pitch with fund from the estate of the late J.K. Randle.
- Assisted the college’s football team.
- Encouraged formation of sets by old students which led to many projects executed by different sets.
- Renovation of the basketball pitch into a multi-purpose pitch as well as donation of nets, balls.
- Donation of laptops embedded with WAEC and JAMB past questions from 1978, in addition to hiring of a computer instructor. Subscription of internet facilities for 1year.
- Tiling of dinning hall floor, changing of louvres, doors , windows and painting.
- Provision of textbooks and other writing materials for students.
- Painting of the laboratories.
- Institution of scholarship to assist indigent students by Bashorun Femi Pedro, former Deputy Governor of Lagos State.
- Provision of solar electricity for the college by the USA Chapter. This is the first of its kind in the history of secondary schools in Nigeria.
- The PG went to court as a stakeholder and obtained an order to allow his alma mater to resolve the internal strife within Anwar-Ul Islam Movement. The judge surprised him by granting the alma mater of all other group of schools established by the movement the same power. The affairs of these schools went well till they settled the internal strife.
- Expansion and renovation of the college’s library named for Principal emeritus, Alhaji Jimoh Adisa Gbadamosi, OON.
- The 65th & 70th anniversaries of the school were celebrated with fanfare.
- ACAOSA BOOK, which depicts the rich history of the college was reviewed after 30 years of the maiden edition.The book has been registered with the National Library in Abuja
Pedro is not alone in the arduous task of remaking our alma mater. Other old boys working with him in this regard are Justice Ishola Olorunimbe (rtd), Bashorun Femi Pedro; Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, one-time commissioner in Lagos State and current Lagos APC chairman, Alhaji Tunde Balogun; Assistant- Inspector- General of Police, Kokumo Johnson; Alhaji Rahman Alarape, Hakeem Ogunniran, Dr Adelaja Omofade, Alhaji Jide Tairu, Mr Charles Obazuaye (ACAOSA UK Chapter president), Musbau Halid (ACAOSA US Chapter president), Taofik Aromashodu and Alhaji Olayiwola Tijani, among others.
In a tribute, Assistant Inspector-General of Police Shina Olukolu described Pedro as “an energetic achiever with a great dream for our alma mater who will stop at nothing in seeing the college at the top of ivy league schools in the country”. To Ogunniran, Pedro “is not limiting his impact to the college. Wherever he goes he stamps his feet in the sand of times”.
Tijani, who is ACAOSA General Secretary said Pedro is unassuming and always thinking about how to make the better. “He is zealous about making our alma mater primus interpares”, Tijani added. He should know as they work together.
Pedro graduated in law from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1985. He joined the chambers of Dele Akinmusuti & Co where he cut his teeth as a legal practitioner after completing his one-year mandatory National Youth Service (NYSC) as a Legal Officer in the Ibadan Western Regional office of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. He joined the Lagos State Ministry of Justice in 1987 and worked in various directorates. He rose through the ranks to become Director of Civil Litigation (2006). He was appointed Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary of the ministry in April 2008.
Pedro was called to the inner Bar in December, 2008, as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). He is a fellow and an examiner of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Nigeria. He is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and International Bar Association (IBA). He is the author of:
Jurisdiction of courts in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s quest for egalitarian federalism.
Contemporary issues In Nigeria Constitutional Law (Contributor).
Pedro is now into private practice. From your ACAOSA family, we say Happy Diamond Anniversary, Peddy.