Prof. Adeagbo Akinjogbin was a first class academic. His erudition was top notch. He was stupendously intelligent. He was a scholar of immense wisdom. His research dexterity was a delight in scholarship menu. He wrote his books and articles in streaming fluidity. His english was not expensive but definitely not cheap either. He was very thorough in his details and painstaking with his facts. He romanced his facts with analytical sincerity and cuddled his doubts with philosophical diligence. He loved scholarship with an affection that pedestrianized what is called affectation. He loved his job. He loved to teach and he loved to write. He was an enterprising scholar with flourishing humility. He was not arrogant but he was protective of his personality and proud of his achievements. He was a conservative scholar who condoned radical academy. Akinjogbin suffered fools gladly because he saw elucidation as part of education. His profile as a scholar was frightening while his portrait as an administrator was intimidating. His analyses were as deep as knowledge. It may sound hyperbolic to say Unife was Akinjogbin or Akinjogbin was Unife. Either way, Akinjogbin understood the history of Unife same way Unife is littered with the history of Akinjogbin. He joined Unife in 1963, started and nurtured two strategic units of the University namely Department of History and Institute of African Studies. Prof. Akinjogbin had been Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University as far back as 1966. He was at various times the Deputy Vice -Chancellor of the University under Prof. Hezekiah Oluwasanmi and Prof.Ojetunji Aboyade. He was there from the time of the first Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Oladele Àjọṣe. I did not know who I offended that decided to assign me to a legend of history and a historical luminary on the anatomy of Unife all because of ordinary undergraduate project. What did we steal, what did you throw?
Immediately the list of assigned supervisors and approved topics was out, every student went for consultation with their supervisors. Mostly, they wanted their supervisors’ approval to commence their work and/or work out the plan for the project with their supervisors. Prior to the release of the list, during one of our speculative sessions on possible supervisors, I could remember telling my friends, Goke Folayan, Akin Akinade and Tayo Adesina that I wouldn’t mind being supervised by a Prof. At the time I was saying this, Prof. Akinjogbin was not on ground. We only had Prof. Oloruntimehin, Prof. Kola Folayan, Prof. Richard Olaniyan and Prof. Femi Omosini. I was very close to all of them but Prof. Folayan. Prof. Oloruntimehin was the Head of Department and I was the President of the History Students Society. So, we interacted one on one. Prof. Omosini taught me History of International relations (1919-1945) while Prof. Olaniyan taught me American history. In these two classes, I was never anonymous. I was somehow averse to ubiquity because of its seeming trivialities but I hated anonymity that would overshadow my identity. When I saw my name under those assigned to Prof. Akinjogbin for supervision, I knew I was in for a long haul. Besides, my mentor, Dr. Biodun Adediran had told me a lot about him. He said Prof. Akinjogbin was a nice man who loved students who were hardworking. Interestingly, Prof. Akinjogbin was my mentor’s mentor.
Before going home for the Christmas and New Year’s break in 1984, I also decided to go and consult with my own supervisor on how to take off. I told my three friends to follow me for necessary moral support. We all went together to his office. My friends waited at the corridor leading to his office. Really, I didn’t know what moral support I needed from friends who were staying in the corridor when the real drama was happening inside the office. As it eventually happened, I was the only one that faced the heat inside his office. Before entering the office, one of my friends told me to do “the sign of the cross” which I did. When I entered the office, I saw a man in a sartorial attire that depicted the satire of impression. He was an elderly man that could be mistaken for one village *Olori* *Ẹbi* . No one would suspect that the man seated on that chair was the “tree of knowledge” itself. No doubt, Akinjogbin was a scholar that memorialized ancient knowledge and contemporary scholarship. That was his greatest strength.
I introduced myself and my topic: ” Good morning Sir. My name is Dapo Thomas. I am a final year student. My topic is: “The Life History of Oba Ladapo Ademola II (1872-1962), the Late Alake of Egbaland ( (1920-1962) I want to know if I could go ahead with the project since it has been approved by the Department”. What followed was an angry rhetorical holler “Who is the Department? Who is the Department that approved a topic for you and imposed it on me? Who is that Department that gave you a topic and sent you to me to do what? Is this how they have been doing it when I was not around?” I did not utter a word.
I knew immediately that it was a holler not a question. I understood “Who is the HOD…………” but I didn’t understand “Who is the Department………” I kept saying “sorry Sir” to every “Who is the Department” that he uttered. Later, he calmed down and opened his drawer. For about 5 to 7 minutes, he kept leafing through some files. When he finished, he gave me five papers to go through. On one of the papers, I saw “Books”. On another one, they wrote “journal articles”. On another one, they wrote Documents. There were two others with “Reading Materials” written on them.
Wondering what this was all about, I held the papers with timid anxiety until he spoke: “The first thing you will do is to go and study those materials. You will find most of them in the library. You will also go to Lagos and Abeokuta to interview Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, the first son of Oba Ladapo Ademola and Prof. Saburi Bíòbákú. He has done a lot of work on the Oba and the crisis. I give you two months to do everything. By the end of January, you will come back for an oral examination. After that, I will decide what next. You can go”.
As I left his office, I didn’t know whether to abuse him or bless him. Pray, which student would bless a man who was treating undergraduate project like a doctoral thesis? By the time my friends and I finished counting the number of books I was going to read before topic could be approved, we counted 75 materials consisting of books, journal articles, documents and pamphlets. Meanwhile, we had been advised not to write more than 50 pages. So, where would I start from, where would I end? Unfortunately, it was a cul de sac situation. I couldn’t withdraw from the University because of “who is the department”. As at this time, Tayo Adesina and Goke Folayan had been told by their respective supervisors to commence work. But “Who is the Department” was asking me to read 75 books for a project of 50 pages before he could approve topic. Who does that? I went to report him to my mentor, Dr Biodun Adediran. He couldn’t stop laughing. Time was of essence. I commenced work by visiting the Central library to search for the books I could read and borrow the ones I could borrow. One week before the break, I was already in Lagos. I had to go and look for Sir Adetokunbo Ademola at his residence at Adetokunbo Ademola Way, Victoria island, opposite 1004. I was able to get an interview with him on Tuesday, 8 January 1985. Sir Adetokunbo Ademola was born on 1 February 1906 to Prince Ladapo Ademola and Tejumade Alakija. He was appointed the Chief Justice of the Federation on 1 April 1958 and retired in 1972. He was appointed in 1973 by the Gowon Administration to supervise the 1973 census which ended in a serious controversy.
The result of the census was never accepted officially. He told me everything about his father, Oba Ladapo Ademola, Mrs Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (Fela’s mother), his father’s exile to Osogbo in 1948 and about Chief Josiah Akinwande Thomas, my own grandfather. At the end of the interview, he was so excited to know that I am the grandson of Chief Akinwande Thomas, the man who held the sway when his father was in exile and the man who made it possible for his father to return from exile. One interesting part of our meeting was when he told me to always come to his house every Sunday anytime I was in Lagos. I told him about my attempt to read Law and how it failed. He promised to sponsor my Law programme if I still wanted to read Law after my first degree. Until his death on 29 January 1993, he was my major referee. My meeting with him led to a dramatic turn around in my relationship with Prof. Adeagbo Akinjogbin. I fell in love with him for making this possible. After this encounter with Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, I also went to Abeokuta to see Prof. Saburi Bíòbákú. He was a principal player in the establishment of the University of Ife. In fact, he was actively involved in the politics of the early life of the University. He was an active member of the Action Group. He was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University in what appeared to be a political move to checkmate the activities of the first Vice Chancellor of the Institution, Prof. Oladele Ajose who was not a member of the Action Group.
He told me so many things about my topic including information and details I couldn’t find in some of the materials he gave to me. No doubt, he had a comprehensive knowledge of the crisis. He was impressed with me when I told him that I had also interviewed Sir Adetokunbo Ademola for the same project. He asked me if I was a postgraduate student. He couldn’t help laughing and muttering “Isaac” when I told him I was an undergraduate student. Isaac is the first name of my supervisor. Apparently, he knew it was typical of “Isaac” to drill his students irrespective of their degree status.
As a journalist who was used to interviewing celebrities and eminent people, I was happy to meet and interview these two eminent personalities. However, unlike my “High Flyer” column in the Weekend Flight which was for readers delight, these two interviews were for academic exercise. I read all the books, journals and pamphlets given to me by “Who is the Department” and I was ready for the oral interview. Some of the books, I read with tangential enthusiasm while I read others with curious intellection. I believed that with all these seminal encounters, I was good to go. I prepared for the oral interview as if my life was dependent on it. I could not afford to fail it because it would mean starting all over again. I knew that if I passed the interview, the job was half done. I would only concern myself with the writing since I already had all the materials I needed. First week in February 1985, I went to see my Supervisor to inform him of my readiness to do the interview. He asked me to sit on the chair right in front of him. He brought out a paper on which he had written all the questions he wanted to ask me. First, he wanted to know if I was able to interview the two names he gave me and I said yes. I was in his office for almost two hours answering all his questions. At the end of the oral examination, he told me: “I now know why Biodun spoke highly of you. You are good and you are a very serious student”. I was just saying thank you Sir. Then, he shocked me with his next question: “Why is your CGPA declining every semester?” I never knew he would have the time to check my results. I didn’t know what to say but I assured him that it would never happen again. Then the cheering news: ” I have officially approved your topic as presented. Go and start working on it”. For the first time since I got to Ife, I prostrated for my lecturer. He deserved it. He merited it. Since then, I knew “who was the department”.
On Friday, 1 March 1985, I began another load shedding or responsibility shedding when I delivered a farewell address to all students of the History department in my capacity as the outgoing President of the students Society. “It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this occasion where we are being called upon to give an elaborate account of our stewardship from February 1984 to March 1985. The picture that could be compared to this is that of a man who has traveled to the world beyond and he’s being called upon by our Father to render the account of his journey from birth to death”.
When we took over from the last Exco, there was absolutely nothing on ground. The departmental library was in shambles. Students hardly knew there was any library in the department. But by the time my Exco was leaving, the library had been tastely furnished and two powerful aircondioners installed for students comfort. We adorned the windows with fanciful curtains and put fresh tiles in place of rubber carpets. In addition, we bought about 30 books including Tarikh series for the library. We revived the departmental journal, African Historian (Vol. XI 1983/84) which was a kind of academic partnership/collaboration between students and lecturers of the department. In this particular vol., we had contributions from lecturers like Dr. Segun Osoba, Dr Isola Olomola, Funso Afolayan, M.A. Ojo. We also had contributions from students like Siyan Oyeweso, A. Omobitan, Kunbi Okuyiga, Dele Afọlábí and my good self. We established international relationship with some universities in Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana. Some other universities in Nigeria also visited us during my tenure. They included University of Lagos, University of Maiduguri and Bayero University, Kano. We did some other laudable programmes that our patrons, Professors Oloruntimehin and Akinjogbin were proud of. They said this much while presenting certificates of performance to all the Exco members during the send forth ceremony.
Though my results for the Semester still declined, it was somehow marginal. Besides, I was still the President of the History Students Society and the Cobra Chief when we wrote the exams. Before my Supervisor would invite me for not keeping to my promise, I went to report myself to him: “Good afternoon Sir. I had B in HIS 401, B+ in HIS 410, B+ in HIS 412 and B+ in HIS 426. My CGPA moved from 3.57 to 3.55. I am so sorry Sir that I didn’t keep to my promise. I promise to improve in the final semester. I am sorry Sir”.
He looked at me and smiled. “Have you shown Biodun? We have both discussed it. He was the one who told me you are Cobra Chief. When are you stepping down”, he asked. “Very soon Sir”, I replied. Senior was in trouble. I had been informally adopted by two lecturers who kept monitoring me and watching my activities, more or less, acting like my “Fathers”. This was in line with the philosophy of Baba Ibikunle that teachers should always play the role of parents to their students. Somehow, a Lagos boy had now become “Origbo adoptee”. Prof. Akinjogbin was from Ipetumodu while Dr. Biodun Adediran is from Edunabon. Coincidentally, my very close friend, Tayo Adesina, is also an Origbo citizen from Ipetumodu like Prof Akinjogbin. Again, I had a lecturer friend in the department that I was very close to. Dr. Sola Akinrinade was my tutorial lecturer and a friend. He is from Yakoyo. Whichever way I moved in the department, I would be “Origbonized”. The three towns (Ipetumodu, Yakoyo and Edunabon) are part of a cluster family called “Origbo Meje” consisting of: Ipetumodu, Edunabon, Yakoyo, Akinlalu, Moro, Asipa and Isope.
My plan for the final semester was to handover King Cobra to a new leadership via a credible election and concentrate on my studies. But the Buhari/Idiagbon administration interrupted this plan by laying a dangerous ambush for me and Professor Woke Soyinka labelling us subversive elements plotting to overthrow the government.
To be continued
