Professor Akinwumi Isola, writer, academic and Yoruba cultural activist, who died in Ibadan on Saturday 17 February 2018 at the age of 79, was buried in the same city on Friday, 13 April.
His burial attracted politicians, academics, captains of industry and other well wishers: Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State,, represented by Toye Arulogun, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism; Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State represented by his Special Adviser, Mrs Taiwo Oluga; Lagos State legislators Tunde Buraimo and Olayiwola Olawole; former Oyo State Secretary to the State Government, Chief Michael Koleoso. Academics who were there: Professors Femi Osofisan, Ayo Banjo, Ayo Bamgbose, Anthony Ijaola Asiwaju, Olutayo Adesina, Gbemi Adeoti, Olubunmi Olopade-Olaopa, Toyin Falola, Pamela Olubunmi Smith, Daniel Izevbaye, Kunle Adeniran, Olabode Lucas, Festus Adesanoye and Dele Layiwola.
The General Secretary/CEO of The Bible Society of Nigeria, BSN, Reverend Dr. Fred Odutola and President, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, CCII, Chief Yemi Soladoye were also there. Not left out either were: Professor Ayo Kehinde, Professor Opoola Ayotunde Ogunsiji; Dele Momodu, CEO and publisher of Ovation International Magazine; Tunde Kelani of Mainframe Production; Dr. Adeola Adijat Faleye; Dr Tunde Awosanmi, a playwright; Elder Oladejo Okediji and the Project Director of the Broadcasting Corporation of Oyo State (BCOS), Mr Yanju Adegbite. The list is long.
Ministers who officiated were: The Prelate of Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr. Sunday Olatunji Amos Makinde; Archbishop Ayo Ladigbolu; Rt. Rev. Dr. A. O. Ajiboye; Rt. Rev. Bishop Morounfoluwa Moradeyo; Bishop Kayode Olu Ajiboye; Sir Dr. Jide Fatokun, Very Rev. O. A. Adewuyi; Engr Niyi Afonja; Kunmi Osundiran and Sunday Atoyebi.
In his sermon, Makinde one of the late writer’s former students, praised Isola’s wife, Adebola, for taking care of her husband when he could no longer do a lot of things by himself. In his words: “Wives who do not care for their husbands should learn from Mrs Adebola Isola. Before Akinwumi died, she gave him his favourite meal, “Amala, gbegiri ati ewedu. Akinwumi’s last meal…”
Makinde added that Isola was among the great writers Nigeria has produced. “ Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Daniel Fagunwa, G. F Odunjo, Duro Ladipo, Oyin Adejobi, Wande Abimbola, Herbert Ogunde and others. They can never die. They will continue to live as long as their work live.
“Today, where is Yoruba Language, Yoruba Culture and tradition? I was very happy when I heard that BBC has started Yoruba Service, which is a sign that Yoruba is one of the major languages in the world. If foreigners can appreciate this language, why can’t the owners of the language appreciate it? Please, do not allow this language to go into extinction. Please, do not let us forget our source”, Makinde pleaded.
The Vice Chancellor, Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede: “We recall that Professor Akinwumi Isola returned to our university in the late 1990s to early 2000s as a Senior Research Professor at the Institute of Cultural Studies where he again left an indelible mark in the annals of our creative cultural engagement. We shall forever remember the amiable personality of Professor Isola in our cultural gatherings where his profoundly witty tales and fable would always come on readily to mind to drive home poignant lessons on our collective cultural and intellectual ruminations. Needless to say, the passing on of Isola has left a vacuum in our collective cultural landscape as a nation that will be difficult to fill. Indeed, his death has left many literary and screenplay writers in this country as inconsolable orphans”.
The Managing Director of University Press Plc, Samuel Kolawole: “His publications and pioneer work in promoting Nigeria history and rich culture have immensely impacted on many at home and abroad. His work will definitely live on and he would surely be remembered as a literary icon who dedicated his life to making his country great”.
Isola’s wife, Adebola: “Akinwumi Isola, alias honest man, let me first apologise for writing your tribute in English. It is because a thousand and one people will like to read it. Please pardon me, Ajagbe, omo Onida. I know you were versatile in English and excellent in Yoruba, your favourable language. You can no longer answer me whenever I call daddy, what a wicked world. You are a loving husband, father, grandfather, a man of dignity, courage, integrity, and humility. Those that heard about you wanted to meet you. That is my joy. Though, you were old, you were still friends to the young and old alike. Our people at our village, Labode, will never forget you. A wonderful husband, I will always love you. I appreciate God for giving me Akinwumi Isola as my husband. I thank God that I and the nurse put you on the bed when you breathed your last even before the doctor your children employed to take care of you arrived. What will l miss about you? The jokes and stories you always told as well as the songs you always sang for me”.
Akinjide, Isola’s only son: “It is almost as if a part of me has ceased to exist, and in many ways, this is indeed a reality”.
Tributes sent by other Nigerians
Vice President Yemi Osibajo, “His publications and pioneer work in promoting Nigeria history and rich culture have immensely impacted on many at home and abroad. His work will definitely live on and he would surely be remembered as a literary icon who dedicated his life to making his country great”.
Former Presdient Olusegun Obasanjo “…I have accepted his transition as a course we all must take…. Professor Akinwumi’s multi-faceted career and pre-occupations as a multiple award winning poet, novelist, scholar, teacher, accomplished and consummate public servant and a renowed dramatist which straddled the last six decades, have been a source of profound happiness to many of us and a genuine source of inspiration to aesthetes and intellectuals all over the world. His had been a most colourful life which had seen him shuttle tirelessly from one area of human endeavour to another. Yet in all his human endeavours, his over-ridding concern had always been a dogged humanism, deeply compassionate and genuinely universal.
“Akinwumi lived a life which has positively touched many. He was down-to-earth and not a lover of material things, freeing his mind for wider exploration of things which affect humanity, especially his African ancestry. He cared intensely for his fellow citizens. Oftentimes, the proof of personal satisfaction is the extent to which even those who may not be aware are touched by actions individually undertaken. I am happy to note that his patriarchal contribution to the arts and professional and humanistic exertions have been nationally acknowledged with the conferment on him of the distinguished Nigerian National Order of Merit, NNOM, in 2000. He was also a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, FNAL, 2001.
“Our dear nation will surely be the better for it if only the present generation would emulate the enviable personal qualities of the late Prof. Akinwumi. A hardworking man of great integrity and highly cultured personality, he was a symbol of humility, moderation and selfless service…. His death is a huge loss to the nation and, therefore, by this message, I am not only joining thousands of other Nigerians to mourn but also paying deserving tribute to this outstanding Nigerian and quintessential man”.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State: “This progenitor of Yoruba culture, literary giant and talented actor, whose creative works and huge contributions to the body of knowledge remain indelible. In the same vein, his unconventional delivery of a university convocation lecture in the Yoruba Language will forever stand as a first in the annals of history”
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State: “Sadly, death has once again robbed our dear nation of a man whose passion for the Yoruba Language, our culture and tradition were unparalleled. Although, he is no more, his legacies, particularly, his artistry works, will no doubt live on”.
Professor Isola’s remains were later interred at Methodist Church Labode, Labode Ikereku Circuit around 2:50pm.
Akinwumi was born at Labode Village in Ibadan in 1935 to Mr Samuel Orojide and his wife, Mrs Rebecca Adedoyin Orojide. He started his primary education at Labode Methodist School, Labode where he was between 1945 and 1946 and completed it at Methodist Primary School, Agodi in Ibadan in 1947 to 1951. He attended Methodist Teachers’ Training College, Ifaki-Ekiti between 1953 to 1954 where he earned Teachers’ Grade Three Certificate and proceeded to Wesley College, Ibadan, between 1957 and 1958 where he earned Teachers’ Grade Two Certificate. Between 1961 and 1962, he attended College of Arts, Science and Technology, where he obtained GCE AL. He gained admission to the University of Ibadan, UI, in 1963 where he earned a B.A. in French in 1967 and enrolled for a Diploma in Linguistics in 1968 and graduated in 1970. He earned M.A. in Yoruba Literature in University of Lagos in 1978 and returned to UI for his PhD which he earned in 1978.
He started out as a teacher in 1952 at Olodo Methodist Primary School and worked in various Methodist Schools in Egbado now Yewa, Igan-Okoto and Igbogila. He also worked as a teacher at Methodist Modern School, Ogbomosho and Wesley College, Elekuro before he became a lecturer at Univerity of Lagos and later at University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, where he became a professor in 1983.
Isola wrote his first play, Efunsetan Aniwura during in 1961 while still a student at the University of Ibadan, followed by a novel, O Leku. His other publications include Afaimo ati awon Arofo Miran, Koseegbe, Oluomo, Ogun Omode, Ofin Irinna, Iku Oloku Esin, Madam Tinubu, Terror of Lagos, Ake, ni Igba Ewe, Fabu, Saworoide, Aye ye wontan, The Campus Queen, Belly Bellows, Herbert Macaulay and the Spirit of Lagos, Nitori Owo as well as several poems. In 1986, he wrote and composed the college anthem that is currently being sung in Wesley College Ibadan.
