According to a statement by the University’s Director of Public Communication, Mr. Olatunji Oladejo, Prof. Ekanola was admitted to the NAL’s College of Fellowship at the Twenty-Second and Twenty-Third (Combined) Convocation and Investiture of New Fellows at the J.F. Ade Ajayi Auditorium, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos, on Thursday.

At the impressive ceremony, the Academy’s Secretary, Prof. Ayo Kehinde said the body “confers the award of the Fellowship of the Academy on the basis of their outstanding contributions to scholarship and extension of the frontiers of knowledge in their various subjects of the humanities.”

He explained that, ” the Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Letters are a group of distinguished scholars of the humanities, nominated and selected in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the humanistic scholarship.

“The new Fellows have been elected following a robust review process; they have been recognised for the excellence of their research outputs and highly accomplished in their fields”, the scholar added.

As for Prof. Ekanola who was elected as a New Regular Fellow in the area of Philosophy, the outgoing President of the Academy, Prof. Francis Egbokhare said: “Just a quick one, I need to say that Prof. Ekanola is here as a Fellow on the recognition of his scholarship not because he is the Acting Vice-Chancellor. We don’t reward people because of administrative positions. We need  to state it clearly.  I will now call on Prof. Godwin Sogolo, the father of Philosophy in Nigeria, to join in his investiture.”

In a brief but well-crafted citation on Prof. Ekanola by the orator, Prof. Mabel Osakwe, at the event, read as follows: “Prof. Adebola Babatunde Ekanola holds B.A. Philosophy, First Class Division), Obafemi Awolowo University, 1991; M.A. Philosophy 1995 and Ph.D. Ibadan, 2003.”

“A Professor of Philosophy and Ethics, he was born on 2 December, 1969. He was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in Ibadan and rose through the ranks to Professorship in 2010. He has published extensively in reputable outlets in his field till his recent 2021 publications.”

“Prof. Ekanola is a profound and focused scholar who engages in robust and in-depth research in his field. He has significantly contributed to the field of philosophy, especially African Philosophy, Ethics and Logic.”

“An enduring brilliance of his research endeavour  is his conceptual approach of deploying analytical skills in classifying and resolving classical issues in ethics as well as social and political practices.”

“Mr. President,  It is my pleasure  to present to you this brilliant, first-class and intellectually resourceful philosopher of peace and development for investiture as Fellow of NAL.”

Other humanistic scholars inducted at the convocation were Professor Ahmed Parker Yerima, Professor Frank Maduabuchi Dukor, Professor Olayemi Durotimi Akinwumi, Professor Lateef  Babatunde Ayeleru, Professor Isidore Okeawolam Diala, Professor Abayomi O. Akinyeye, Professor Andrew Haruna, Professor Imelda Icheji Lawrence Udoh, Professor Olusegun Adesina Adekoya, Prof. Justice Obi Nwachukwu-Agbada, Prof. Mabel Evweierhoma and Prof. David Jowitt.

Also, His Eminence, Most Reverend Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto,  was elected as an Honorary Fellow while Prof. Tanure Ojaide, NNOM, was elected as an Overseas Fellow  of the Academy at the convocation.

By this investiture, Prof. Ekanola, is entitled to use the designatory letters “FNAL” after his name.

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There was palpable tension and fears on Tuesday, in the university community after a number of students contracted the disease. The development led the school management to convey an emergency Senate meeting on Wednesday.

A statement issued after the meeting, the Senate explained that the students who tested positive for the disease, are being treated, and contact tracing already in place.

“The situation is, indeed, worrisome especially noting the reluctance of the
majority of students to comply with the COV1D-19 prevention protocols.

“To avoid the escalation of cases on campus, the University Senate at an
emergency meeting held on Wednesday, 14th of July 2021 approved that all students vacate the halls of residence by 12.00 pm on Thursday indefinitely.

“Lectures for the rest of the semester will continue to be delivered virtually with effect from 26th July 2021.”

equ, sources within the school confirmed receiving a Whatsapp broadcast message from the Dean of Students Affairs (DSA) informing them to leave the school’s hostels.

“Lectures for the rest of the semester will be delivered virtually with effect from 26th July 2021,” the statement said.

UNILAG’s management had earlier raised the alarm over “flu-like symptoms which are similar to COVID-19.

“The Medical Centre hereby assures all members of the university community, that all necessary actions in line with the federal and Lagos State Government guidelines have been taken regarding this potential threat in our community”, it added.

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Chidinma Ojukwu is beautiful, and voluptuous. No wonder predominant comments – especially from men-folk – on this 21-year old self-confessed killer of Lagos-based 50-year old Usifo Ataga, CEO of Super TV, are wrapped in the poser: was she a lethal, destructive woman the French call the femme fatale, or victim of a delinquent higher institution girls’ sex trade that turned awry?

The story of Chidinma, student of the University of Lagos, which is trending on the social media radar at the moment, is riveting. It is a perfect script for a crime fiction thriller. She courted massive traffic to herself due to the horror of her narrative and the shock people get upon realizing that such physical beauty she represented could be a shawl hiding a dastard cruelty of immense proportion. She is no doubt a prominent member of that cult of young girls who are completely immersed in the flesh-for-cash barter trade that is the hub of the Nigerian social circle. Chidinma had confessed to murdering, via stabbing Ataga, her sexual liaison, at a service apartment in Lekki.

The femme fatale is no doubt an invention of a patriarchal French world. She is a mysterious but beautiful mannequin whose major stock-in-trade is seduction of men. With the ensnaring charms of her enchanting beauty, this French invention uses herself as deadly bait for men which, when swallowed, becomes the death of them. Her most notorious representations are biblical characters like Delilah, Jezebel and Salome whose beauty entrapped men to their graves. The femme fatale archetype was also depicted by Irish poet and playwright, about-the-most-successful-playwright of late-Victorian London, Oscar Wilde, in his play, Salome. In the play, Salome manipulated her lustful uncle, King Herod, with an enticing Dance of the Seven Veils. After seducing him, she then asked for the head of John the Baptist, an imperious demand Herod could not decline.

As an aside, Wilde himself was later convicted in a criminal trial for gross indecency in a consensual homosexual liaison with his gay partner, British poet, journalist and son of the Marquess of Queensberry, Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas. Douglas’ father, who abhorred the homosexual relationship, mocked Wilde in the public and the Irish playwright sued him for libel, only for details of his romp with Douglas to become public knowledge. This prompted his conviction and sentencing to two years imprisonment with hard labour in 1895, in one of the first celebrity trials in the world. Imprisoned in Cell No C33 at the Reading, England jailhouse until 1897, Wilde’s experience later formed the muse for that grim realism of life in prison depicted in his The Ballad of Reading Gaol. He later died of meningitis in 1900 at age 46, three years after his release from prison.

Even if you were as unfeeling as to be capable of making barbecue with the ugly, bony and sparse-meat head of a tortoise, when you read the grief-provoking story of Chidinma, you will be sorry for motherhood and for the mother who begot her. From you will flow empathy for that uncertain, painful moment of delivery at the maternity ward which the Yoruba carefully parceled in the panegyric, ikunle abiyamo. How could a child, apparently born with much celebration and rejoicing, turn this tragically into a demonic man mauler?

Details of the tragic story are in the public domain and have elicited diverse comments from Nigerians and beyond. They do not need a rehash here. Questions upon questions are being asked but none is yet able to explain the riddle of how such a young girl could perpetrate that gory crime to which she has confessed. In court, lawyers will battle whether the narratives conveyed in Chidinma’s confession and evidence from the murder scene tally with the crime of murder or manslaughter.

Do the multiple stabs, her decision to pay for the hotel with a pseudonym, the withdrawals from deceased Ataga’s account and the fake driving license bearing “Mary Johnson” with her photograph, constitute premeditated murder? Was there absence or presence of the mental element called mens rea in the killing? Those are however not our bother here. The society, enveloped in the Chidinma story, is.

From all the narratives presented of this 21-year old, it is obvious that she lived a double-faced life like Janus, the Roman god with two faces. She was a reserved, angelic girl next door at home and in her neighbourhood and at the same time, a total delinquent in shrouds of innocence.

The second part must have been concealed from her parents, classmates and her tiny rank of friends, but totally open to the world where she caught her fun. Those who know, who have a social barometer that measures  the pulse of the town, told me that many parents are like Chidinma’s father and mother – they know very little about who their wards are outside of the home. Away from the English social reformer, statistician and founder of modern nursing, Florence Nightingale picture they cut at home, many of our children are nothing but whores, perverts and drug addicts who daily frequent fun arenas to get their fixes. From police report, Mr. Ojukwu, Chidinma’s father, got violently antagonistic, like many parents will, when policemen came to their home to arrest his daughter. How could his angelic daughter be the homicidal psychopath the police were looking for?

Chidinma’s viral confession also revealed that she was afflicted by the famous bug that has become a pestilence among the youth in our society – drug addiction. In October, 2017, I did a piece entitled, Our Water Bottle Children Are Here where I explored this menace. I termed the prevalence of drug consumption among our children the new wave of fire that will consume us all soonest.

Drawn into curiosity by the Yoruba language-rendered, high-tempoed hip-hop song of street boy musician, Temitope Adekunle, a.k.a. Small Doctor, entitled “Penalty”, I was told that the fad among youth nowadays is to lace hard drugs in alcohol which they put in water bottles, clutched as youth identity at parties and social gatherings. Small Doctor, in the song, had sang of how the boys were “bringing water bottles into the dancehall” while the musician, who nicknamed self Omo Iya Teacher, deploying beer parlour lingo, enjoined the party crew to “yee ma sun, gba ko je! (don’t be a dunce, so take it and swallow!).”

Chidinma Ojukwu

“We were in the lodge smoking. He was trying to make advances on (sic) me. I was tired and he became violent on it. I let him have his way. Towards afternoon, he ordered roofies. We took it together and ate food,” Chidinma said upon being interrogated. She confessed to withdrawing N380,000 from the deceased’s account to pay her school fees and said, “We smoked SK and Loud… I wanted to use the money I withdrew to pay my school fees. I felt disappointed when the police arrested me at my parents’ house and it was when I was arrested around 10pm that my parents got to know about the incident.”

Chidinma, at that tender age and like many of our children in schools, was already hooked on drugs. I am told that the world of drug consumption has widened dangerously in the dimension of the hopelessness in the land.

Our children have moved away from WHO-classified narcotic substances and psychotropic substances like rohypnol, tramadol, diazepam and lexotan to more lethal ones. I said in the piece referenced above that “a rough survey I carried out indicates that this water bottle culture has become so pervasive among our youth that we could be having a pandemic on our hands. While the list of drugs known to previous generations included cocaine, heroin, marijuana (cannabis) – the latter now with different variants and cognomens – a host of other variants have since erupted. Rohypnol, a strong sedative also known as date rape drug; codeine, a cough suppressant; mephenthamine, alcohol, topiramate, methane from soak-aways, glue, petrol and such like narcotics are the drugs commonly consumed by our children, mostly on campuses.”

Usifo Ataga, CEO of Super TV,

While Buba Marwa, Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) may be combing the nooks and crannies of Nigeria for drugs and may be making the success attributed to him in the public sphere, drugs in underground cells and cellars of universities and on the streets will continue blossoming except Nigeria addresses the huge hopelessness of unemployment in the land.

During the week that just ended, I accosted a secondary school dropout hooked on drugs who, when told the danger of its consumption, peremptorily retorted that die na die, parodying the Shakespearean assertion “… Seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.” The Chidinma menace of the girl child’s acute dependency on illicit sex for survival too has a lot to do with the failure of successive governments to shine light on Nigeria’s dark economy. It is tied to the apron string of the menace of our children becoming tools in the hands of sex vampires like Usifo Ataga.

As I said in the piece, the political dictates the social and the social is the manifestation of the political; or vice versa. That probably was why late Jamaican reggae icon, Peter Tosh, at the One Love Peace Concert held on April 22, 1978 at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, was quoted as saying, “I am not a politician but I suffer its consequences.”

We suffer the consequences of the cumulative bad governance in Nigeria from independence till date: the stealing of our commonwealth and the opaque governance by our military and civilian conquistadors. Parents have thus become victims of this time. That probably was why Mr. Ojukwu couldn’t afford Chidinma’s school fees, why a young girl like her had to depend on takings from hawking her flesh for survival. In many homes, those girls we see trading their flesh as bazaar at bioscopes, hotels and clubs are breadwinners whose families’ ability to put food on the table is dependent on the number of men’s nakedness these daughters of theirs see per day.

The family in Nigeria has, ipso facto crumbled, almost irretrievably. Parental failure is everywhere. Values and ethics of the home have taken unceremonious flights. Parents themselves have no time for the development of their children as they are running helter-skelter to make a living. Men like Ataga – though we are not afforded the opportunity of hearing his own side since he is dead – are capitalizing on this collapse of the home and deploying our girls as lubricants of their social and economic dislocation.

Flowing from Tosh, it is obvious that we must all seek to have good governance in Nigeria so that we can embrace developments and low crimes, the type in saner climes. It is the only remedy to the hopelessness that breeds the calamities of Chidinma and the menace of Atagas

Dr. Festus Adedayo, a Scholar, Author and Journalist writes

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He did something similar at the gala organized for the pioneer students of Tech-U during their orientation. Having arrived the venue early with his wife, he took time to interact with the students, many of who didn’t know who he was until later that evening. He spoke to them individually about their dreams and aspirations and encouraged them to work towards those dreams.

That was something no one could take away from Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe; timely and necessary presence. Those who were in the University of Lagos then would agree that in his time as Vice-Chancellor, if there was a crime on campus, he would be there within five minutes. Another thing was his love and avuncular disposition towards young people.

His profile was no doubt intimidating; apart from being a renowned Professor of Systems Engineering, he was a man given to path-breaking research, passionate teaching and impactful community engagement. From being the best graduating student in 1971, he was the first to graduate with a First Class and the first student to win the Vice-Chancellor’s Prize outside the College of Medicine in UNILAG. Those who say his rise was exponential are always quick to add that he put in a corresponding amount of effort to achieve the results he did.

I found his affection for young people inexplicable until he told my good friend and brother, Femi Babatunde one of the reasons behind it. “Of course I relate with young people. The people you are making policies for are young people. Your policies will not prosper if you don’t carry the young people along”, he said.

An apparently unknown part of his achievements is that he set up what is today known as UNILAG Consult from the scratch. He was the pioneer Managing Director of the organization. His unmitigated interaction with the industry was put to effective use during his sabbatical leave when he became a Director at Ikeja Hotels; the company that built the Sheraton Hotels back then.

His skills of analysis and organization have never been in doubt. When put to the test, he produced outstanding results: the Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu Alike, Ikwo is a proof. Narrating the experience when he was tasked with setting up a Federal University in Ebonyi State, Professor Ibidapo-Obe said “when I went to Ebonyi, I had to start from the scratch. We call it green field; they just give you a forest with some touches of human beings living there, which they claim is their ancestral land”.

That probably explains the serious bond between Professors Oye Ibidapo-Obe and Ayobami Salami, the pioneer Vice-Chancellor of Nigeria’s premier Technical University. The latter is going through what Professor Ibidapo-Obe went through in Ndufu Alike with the establishment of First Technical University, Ibadan. Interestingly, Professor Ibidapo-Obe was the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council of Tech-U till he passed on.

Both are united in the belief that vision is one of the key requirements for building a 21st Century University. Both men also see functional technical tertiary education as a panacea for Nigeria’s education system which has been uglified by the innumerable problems bedeviling it. Both professors have demonstrated their belief in the Tech-U advantage, which is equipping young people to become job creators right from the university. Little wonder the Council of the University chaired by Professor Ibidapo-Obe is made up of accomplished professionals who know fully well that education as a tool can cure all the problems of Nigeria as a nation. Yes, Tech-U’s pioneer Pro-Chancellor saw the birth of Nigeria’s first entrepreneurial university, where students are trained not only to use their brains but their hands too. Sadly, he didn’t wait to see the pioneer set graduate.

The list of those who will miss Professor Ibidapo-Obe is endless: Governor Seyi Makinde, who was his student in UNILAG will miss the wise counsel of the deceased. Alex Ekwueme University, Ndufu Alike, will miss its pioneer Vice-Chancellor while Tech-U will miss its pioneer Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council. The reason may not be farfetched, over the past four decades, he has built people who became instrumental to the development of their immediate environments and the country as a whole. Those people have in turn, gone ahead to impart more lives.

No one contests the fat that he lived an exemplary and fulfilled life. And his transition sends a strong message to those of us left on this side of eternity that when wind carries clothes stacked in a box in the room, the yam flour seller needs not to be told to take heed. Gone are the days when people argued whether Coronavirus was real or not. Those who have not lost anyone to the virus will likely know someone who survived it or someone who is presently undergoing treatment. It is already that close.

The community transmission we were warned against is already here with unprecedented aggression; same for the second wave of the pandemic and even deadlier new strains of the virus. And while Nigerians continue to anticipate the arrival of the COVID-19 vaccine, hardly does any one of us need to be told to take responsibility for ourselves and those around us. It is already public knowledge that medical facilities are already overwhelmed as we have heard of billionaires who could not even get treated for lack of space in the hospitals.

It is deeply disturbing that many of us have let down our guard. Nose masks are now mostly worn as chin masks while some have done away with them outrightly in the name of “we work in the same office, so I can remove my mask, he is a family member so I am covered”. The culture of regular hand washing that we imbibed only a year ago is fast fading away. Quite unfortunately, not many people are confident enough to go for voluntary testing.

If strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols can save one the stress of contracting the virus, the risk of infecting others and unnecessary death, it is incomprehensible why people have chosen to jettison such preventive measures.

Perhaps more needs to be done to enlighten Nigerians that prevention is not just better; it is also cheaper than cure. COVID-19 is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. And with the rich and influential not immune, the yam flour seller needs to take heed when wind starts removing clothes stacked in the room.

Wole Adejumo, writes from Ibadan

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The  Don was, until his death, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council of First Technical University, Ibadan.

He was aged 71 years.

Ibidapo-Obe’s death was announced on Sunday evening in a statement signed by the Registrar of the First Technical University, Ibadan, Mr. Olayinka Balogun.

“With heavy heart, and submission to the will of God I write to inform Council members of the transition to glory of Professor Oye Ibidapo-Obe, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, First Technical University, Ibadan which occurred today 03/01/2021.

“I pray for the repose of the soul of the departed,” the statement read

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His PhD thesis was entitled: Comparative Assessment of Legal Sanctions For Environmental Pollution in the Oil Producing Areas of Nigeria and other Selected Countries.

The thesis focuses on deconstructing the Nigerian environmental laws in a way to ensuring a cleaner environment and maximising revenue generation from crude oil production in Nigeria.

Musah, who represented Saki West State Constituency in the 8th Assembly, as gathered  enrolled for the programme in 2015/2016 academic session and finished in 2018/2019 academic session.

Musah had his LL.B at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife where he graduated with 4.48 CGPA and LL.M at the University of Lagos  with 4.03 CGPA respectively. He also graduated with a 2:1 Grade from the Law School.

Taking his destiny in his hands, he has worked with Legal Minds Chambers, Lagos during his National Youth Service Corps; Kola Awodein, SAN, Lagos as a Junior Associate; Abdulkareem, Fajimite & Co as an Associate; Paul Usoro, SAN, Lagos as an Associate and Olufunke Aboyade, SAN, Lagos as a Senior Associate.

The ex- Oyo Deputy Speaker  now operates A. B. Musah & Associates in Ibadan, the stats capital,  a personally owned commercial law firm where he serves as Managing Partner.

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