Kunle Adelabu
Emeritus Prof Sikiru Adebayo Sanni, the first black man to be admitted into MIT School of Chemical Engineering Practice and first Professor of Chemical Engineering in Africa, has explained why he did not change his Muslim name despite being a Christian.
The international personality, who served as the Chairman, Ikorodu Division Resource Development Group (IDRDG), between 1990 and 1991, stated during the royal visit by His Royal Majesty, Oba Kabir Shotobi, the Ayangbure of Ikorodu and his entourage to his Ipakodo country home, that his respect for his parents prevented him from changing his muslim name, despite that a Christian name wanted to be forced on him at Baptism.
Prof. Sanni, the pioneer of Chemical Engineering in Nigeria, studied Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and later completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He established the nation’s first Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). He became its first Professor of Chemical Engineering.
He founded the National Center for Technology Management (NACETEM) in 1992, and was appointed Emeritus Professor in 2013.
The Professor of Chemical Engineering, recalling his younger days during the royal visit, spoke about his sojourned to the Arabic school between 1945 and 1946, which was aided by his photographic memory, but added that he developed serious headache during the process. The Octogenarian also admitted that he does not know how to observe the muslim prayers.
While stating that he is a practicing Christian, Prof. Sikiru Sanni also recalled how a Biblical name wanted to be forced on him between 1946 and 1947, when he was about to be baptized, but that he insisted on maintaining the muslim name given to him by his father.
“When I wanted to be baptized around 1947 and 1948, they wanted to give me another name which is Samuel, but I refused and insisted on Sikiru which my father gave me. When they asked me about the meaning of the name, I simply told them that I don’t know and they asked me that I should find out. Up till today, I am still Sikiru Adebayo Sanni.
“People always wondering why a Christian is bearing Sikiru. I maintain my name because I respect my parents a lot”, he revealed.
Narrating his experience with Muslim Students’ Association in Ife, who thought that he was a Muslim, and he delivered lecture at their event, Prof. Sanni said:
“Something happened while I was in Ife (University of Ife), when Muslim students thought that I was a Muslim and came to me to deliver lecture. I told them that I was not a Muslim because I don’t go around telling people about my faith. I just asked them to go back to their people and tell them that but if they still want me to deliver the lecture, I will be willing to deliver it.
“They later returned and accepted that I should deliver the lecture and, on the spot, I gave them the title of the lecture as “Trinity”, that is something that is causing troubles. On the day of lecture, the hall was packed with students wondering if I am a Christian or Muslim.
“When I got to the Hall, I asked them to avail me with a jar with ice cubes and also a mirror and while I was talking, I was also observing my experiment and after seeing that the ice cubes have melted, I then stopped the lecture and carried the mirror.
“Thereafter, I asked the audience about what were inserted into the jar and their responses were ice cubes and water. I then explained to them that it is the same water in three forms and, used that to also explained Trinity as God is three forms and not three Gods, but one is three forms”, he explained..
The emeritus Professor, emphasizing the interrelation of faiths, also told his guests who included the Ayangbure of Ikorodu, Oba Kabir Shotobi and Asiwaju Kaoli Olusanya, the Asipa of Ikorodu and foremost educationist, eminent Ikorodu dignitaries, traditional chiefs and Baales, that:
“There are things about Jesus Christ in Quran that are not in the Bible. There is a chapter about the mother of Jesus Christ that is not in the Bible but is in the Quran”.
