Bishop Anthony Saliu Sanusi was born in 1911 at Iperu Remo, Ogun State, to the Chief Imam of Iperu Remo, Pa Saliu Sanusi. He attended a Koranic school in his early childhood and was later enrolled at the Salvation Army School for his Infant I and II; St. James Anglican Primary School for his Standard I and II; the Catholic School, Iperu, for his Standard III and IV; and St. Augustine’s Catholic Primary School, Ijebu Ode, for his Standard V and VI. He later got converted to Christianity and consequently went into the seminary to train as a Catholic priest. He was ordained as a Reverend Father on December 17, 1944.
He was a priest and teacher before he went to study at the University of Cork, Ireland, where he graduated in 1953 with degrees in History and Music respectively. He later taught at St. Gregory’s College, Lagos and St. Leo’s Teachers’ College, Abeokuta.
Bishop Sanusi became the first principal of St. Anthony Grammar School and was there until 1962, when he was appointed the Education Secretary for the Archdiocese of Lagos. In 1964, he became Education Secretary for all Catholic schools in the Western Region of Nigeria. Bishop Saliu Sanusi was the Rector of St. Theresa Minor Seminary, Ibadan, in 1964; and in 1969, he became the first Bishop of the Ijebu Ode Diocese. He retired in 1990 and passed on in December 2009.
