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Lagos to Immortalize Awojobi
By ThisDay
Published:Thursday, 12 March, 2009
As the post-humous birthday of Professor Ayodele Awojobi
is celebrated today, the Lagos State government has concluded plans to
immortalise the late academic.
Professor Awojobi was born on March 12, 1937 in Lagos and died on
September 23, 1984.
He was credited with inventions that was described as "a confluence
of theory and practice. His unique teaching techniques, in a general testimony,
contributed immensely to the success of many of his students who now occupy
exalted positions in various organisations, including government".
The Lagos State government is said to have commenced work in earnest
on the remembrance of the professor. The work includes the sculpturing
of his statue that will be mounted in a garden at Iwaya, towards Unilag
second gate.
This will be unveiled by Governor Babatunde Fashola on September
23, 2009 to mark the silver anniversary of his death.
The Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Muiz Banire, and the Director
of Conservation and Ecology, Mrs. Adebola Afun, are said to be working
towards the realisation of this objective.
A tribute to the late academic written by Kunle Awobodu, Chief Executive
Officer of Reo-Habilis Construction Ltd, Ikeja, said
"
Awojobi's decision to become a social crusader that led to his early
demise has now been vindicated by Barack Obama's victory in America. As
an optimist, he believed if he, as a Blackman had been equated to Isaac
Newton and Albert Einstein by academics, then good leaders that would turn
Nigeria into Britain could emerge here in an enabling environment”.
"
The pan Africanist philosophy and patriotism made him reject all
entreaties to his returning to Europe to make a better use of his talents.
He set out to fight societal ills such as corruption that has been the
bane of Nigeria, making the poor poorer. As a strong believer in the rule
of law, he identified the judiciary as the arm that could save the nation
from mismanagement.
"
In his naivety, he underestimated the crudeness that characterised
the Nigerian politics. During his case against Governor Akin Omoboriowo
of Ondo State, whom he alleged to have come to power through electoral
fraud in 1983, he was attacked by political thugs in Akure", he said.
According to him "the professor, who never believed in charms, remembered
that one of the thugs used a mysterious object to thump him in the
chest and his body system immediately became disorganised. He never
recovered from the illness caused by the attack as he died a few
months later
at
a young age of 47".
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