Frills of festival of fervors for Oloyede at 70

When Dr Abdul Kareem Oloyede, son of the retiring Prof Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede walked up to the stage to thank everyone who had made it to the two-day ceremonies organised in honour of his dad, his speech almost turned out to be a character sketch of the honouree.

“Daddy would give you an assignment… Once he begins to feel that you’re not likely to be prompt with timing, the next thing is a call from him. That call is to inform you that he has done the same job.” Dr Abdul Kareem however wished his retiring dad a good life and hoped he would make the best of it. “He is a most loving dad. One that would do his best to offer excellent support, advice and guidance. Always there…”

The strongest reinforcement to Prof Oloyede’s character of relentlessness was the pleasantly surprising announcement by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammadu Sa’adu Abubakar III. The Sultan had encountered a most daunting experience trying to make it to Ilorin. His flight was arbitrarily rescheduled even as the notice of rescheduling was rather short. Making it to Ilorin for Oloyede was a task that must not only be done but timeously too, he had resolved.

According to the Sultan, he had watched with relish Oloyede’s relationship with Prof Olaolu Ali, SAN, who, not a few will readily conclude is Oloyede’s alter ego. Until this occasion however, Sultan confessed, he had never seen Ali wear a turban. It was Ali’s style of announcing his new status as Kuliya Ngeri of Ilorin. Never in want of wit, Ali had reiterated to the Oloyede festival audience packed full in the University of Ilorin’s biggest auditorium that he would like to self-indulge by being the only one that could casually pronounce Oloyede’s name without any of his earned titles. He went to emphasise loudly that he was also at the event representing the Emir of Ilorin, thus wearing, according to him, two mega caps. Ali’s messages sank in well into the audience.

The Sultan’s turn to talk was yet another twinning opportunity for Oloyede and Ali. He promised to attend the turbanning ceremony of Ali to the loud applause of the entire auditorium. He then went on to express his personal appreciation of Oloyede’s integrity, industry and all, largely the live version of the words of commendation in the unusually long presidential tribute from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Prof Oloyede.

Beyond the tributes, the Sultan also prayed for Oloyede and stated how proud he had always been associating with Oloyede. To crown it all, His Eminence personally announced the title of Kuliya of Sokoto for Oloyede. Loud shouts of surprise and praise for both the Sultan and Oloyede suffused the hall immediately. Suddenly, two Kuliya in the same hall, both soulmates!

Earlier in the year, like a bolt from the blues, Ali, most deservingly, had also been announced as a professor of practice to the profound delight of the mutual friends and admirers of both Oloyede and Ali for which many congregated at Ile-Ife for a grand reception.

The entire stretch of the two-day Oloyede Festival put together by all the universities in Kwara state otherwise referred to as KU8+ was as bounteously colourful as it was punctuated by poetic timing. The flier announcing the programme had stated that the second leg of the ceremony would feature the public presentation of the book written in honour of Prof Oloyede. Initially conceptualised as one volume comprising two parts, the project was so heavily oversubscribed that the organisers were compelled to settle for two volumes, one containing tributes and the other containing scholarly works. The event was scheduled for the 10th hour on the 10th of October, the birthday anniversary of the man of the day.
Prof Olaolu Ali with all of his numerous capacities managed the public presentation of the two volumes. In addition to the vitality of the naira rain, almost everyone expected to launch the book was either physically present or well represented.

The 10/10 event had a keynoter that came all the way from Ghana in person of Prof Olusola Bandele Oyewole, secretary-general of the Association of African Universities, AAU, Accra, Ghana. It was another colourful tribute Prof Oyewole presented. He recalled how Oloyede serially sacrificed his own status for others to rise. He did not forget to announce in clear terms that he remained a great beneficiary of Oloyede’s selflessness.

Further to Prof Oyewole’s claim on Oloyede, the vice-chancellor of African School of Economics, Prof Mahfouz Adedimeji, posited that one leadership lesson derivable from the retiring don’s career was the need to be like coffee in hot water. “If hot water is applied to potatoes, eggs and coffee they react differently…coffee dominates and changes the challenging environment and its rich aroma fills the place. We can all feel this aromatic coffee as Prof Oloyede has mastered the art and science of converting daunting challenges to opportunities.”

Although a distinct volume was dedicated to tributes, event 10/10 induced almost as many tributes as may be published in another volume. Indeed the height of it all was the call for yet another publication. That call came from the governor of the home state of Prof Oloyede, Prince Dapo Abiodun, of Ogun State represented by Senator Salis Shuaib incidentally representing the senatorial constituency of Prof Oloyede. In a most outstanding appreciation of Oloyede’s successful career and public conduct as an inimitable icon of integrity, Gov Abiodun, according to Senator Shuaib, had requested that Oloyede should please commence the writing of his memoir for the upcoming generations to inspire them to greatness. So much really, to learn from Oloyede.

The previous day, he had given a special lecture, another in the series of university lecture.

Oloyede’s scholarly adventure and administrative acumen have always been such that revealed rare versatility often reflective of borderlessness of knowledge. The professor of Islamic Studies spoke on artificial intelligence and the future of humanities. He was as magisterial as he was demonstrative and even didactic. He betrayed a most serious concern for the moral degeneracy of his fellow scholars of Islamic studies waxing lyrical to register his message: “Eni kewu akelo, l’oni kewu, eni kewu akelo, l’oni kewu…”

He alerted the entire audience to the danger of over reliance on AI which may often vomit garbage fed it either ignorantly or mischievously. According to Oloyede, the quality of the response you get from AI will always be dependent on the quality of your pre-existing knowledge on the subject of your enquiry.

According to Oloyede, AI is trans-disciplinary, indeed as applicable as to the sciences as it is to the humanities. In his usual didactic manner, the JAMB registrar listed up sets of recommendations for users of AI as well as for those who may be mandated to formulate policy on AI given that the novel and bourgeoning technology has come to stay. Oloyede concluded his presentation on the dot of 12:12 pm! How much more poetic can timing be?

In what seemed a full affirmation of “charity begins at home” foremost Ogun state politician with local and international rating who is Nigeria’s immediate past High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Alhaji Sarafa Tunji Ishola sat in for the entire duration of the lecture. He later announced that in addition to his own personal presence, he was standing in for the Alake of Egbaland, the traditional ruler of Oloyede’s roots in Abeokuta.

The Oloyede Festival was nothing short of a 10/10 bouquet of congratulations for the one presidentially declared “an uncommon scholar…”

Tunde Akanni is an associate professor of journalism at LASU. Connect with him on X:@AkintundeAkanni