Pa Is-haq Oloyede: A legend bows out

By MUBARAK OLADOSU

To get Prof. Oloyede displeased, make excuses. To draw his ire, justify failure. To draw his attention, announce success. To get him dancing, surmount challenges, and to get him uncomfortable, sing his praises.

This moment, my pen finds its celebratory voice because this week in Nigeria, and particularly at the University of Ilorin, we are celebrating Oloyede week. Oloyede week is my choice of words in describing the mood of the University, a mood occasioned by the fact that come Thursday, the 10th of October, 2024, Prof. Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede CON, attains the age of 70, and the lanky Professor with an equally towering intellect becomes retired as a Faculty member in the University of Ilorin.

Something certain to me is that Oloyede’s uncommonly resourced mind with its unfathomable capacity is not about to get retired or tired. So, in practical terms, it can only be see you again, as we say at Unilorin. One of the lessons which Oloyede taught us is that seldom is the onset of a journey worthy of celebration. We should rather wait in patience, till the end of the journey, and then determine if the sojourner and his or her sojourn are still worthy of being celebrated. That time has come for Prof. because this week, the formal aspects of Professor Is-haq Oloyede’s journey at, and with the University of Ilorin as a senate member and academic staff concludes, after 41 years of eventful intellectual rendezvous. In saying see you again, rivers of ink are bound to flow in celebrating a great man of letters whom we learnt, started making impact at the University as a student.

Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede was born on the 10th day of October, the 10th month of the Gregorian calendar, 70 years ago. The date might sound magical, but that is because of what the man has made out of the gift of life. You soon realise that there is nothing special about such numeral coincidence as soon as you remember that many have had their first breath on the 10th day of the 10th months of different calendars, with few becoming people of success or significance.

A man with impeccable memory, the maverick, I imagine, remembers his first day as a student of the University of Ilorin in 1978. Perhaps, he remembers what his dreams were, and I guess he has met them so far. Perhaps new ones evolved, they must have, over time.

Prof. Oloyede certainly spent his days as a student of the University, not just studying the notes prescribed by the curriculum, but also by studying the founding fathers whom he met as from 1978. He reflected on their moves and understood their collective mind. As a staff, he became the University’s promised child, and as Vice Chancellor of his alma mater, the University’s child came of age to regenerate the estate and heritage.

A man with a profound sense of history, Oloyede re-introduced the University anthem which the alumni of my generation never knew existed. The anthem became a rallying song and even a battle cry in the war against underdevelopment and ignorance. Oloyede inspired students to reach for excellence by reviving recognition for the best student in every department as a University Scholar, and he complimented the status with cash awards and automatic accommodation. He replicated what he enjoyed as a University Scholar.

He also saw to the construction of a physical fountain which continues to inspire thirst for knowledge. In his time as Vice Chancellor, the University often invited the surviving founding fathers to visit the University. He became a representation of foundation students, and the ‘ founding son ‘ gave us the privilege of meeting Prof. Tamuno, Prof Akinkugbe and Prof Adeoye Adeniyi. He also found a way to replicate Prof. Toye at the University.

Oloyede is perhaps the best and single most important product of the University of Ilorin in material and immaterial terms, at the moment. He did not only attract brilliant minds of different nationalties from across the world to the University, he also attracted friends, especially his friends, and their funds. Philanthropists like Professor of Law Practice, Mallam Yusuf Olaolu Ali and Dr. Wale Babalakin became customary donors at Unilorin.

That is why the name Oloyede is as iconic as it is symbolic here. He is that epitome, the embodiment, the personification and the very much living spirit of the University of Ilorin. An encounter with his Ph.D. thesis at the University Library or Postgraduate School entitled ” The Study of Islamic Law as Contained in Mukhtasar Khalil ” gives an insight into his kind of mind: A mind which seeks out problems, I am tempted to use the word ‘trouble’, so that it could get solved.

Today, Prof. joins the league of retired legends; he is a father for a new age. He is Pa Is-haq Olanrewaju Oloyede. Little wonder why his retirement is another bittersweet moment in the annals of the University of Ilorin. He however appears like a man who is about to to start another journey that will last forty-one years. He is fit, he remains firm and he is ever focused. He will be provoking thoughts on the 9th, the last day he will be spending as a man in his sixties, in a lecture entitled ” Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanities “.

It appears that Prof. Oloyede compared notes with the late founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, who once said, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do”. Prof Oloyede changed our world at Unilorin.

At a recent event, the current Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Wahab Egbewole SAN, aptly noted that maintaining the legacies of the founding fathers without fresh innovations is the definition of retrogression. His point is instructive given that thirteen years after Steve Jobs crossed his last Rubicon, Apple continues to roll out better mobile phones, smartwatches, and other products.

We all therefore owe Prof. Is-haq Oloyede the debt of keeping his legacies aloft, by striving for the best, at every turn in the University’s history.

To achieve this, we should note that Oloyede’s positive jealousy and competitive attitude is a virtue which brings out the best. It brings out improved versions of existing models. He is remembered for replicating on our campus and in our minds, the best of things he encountered in his travels around the world.

Speaking on Artificial Intelligence is typical Oloyede signature. On countless occasions, I had listened to Professor Oloyede criticise and even agonise over what he considers under utilisation of the human mental capacity through compartmentalisation of knowledge and disciplines. He believes in the world of historic intellectuals of the orient and of the occident, such as Ibn Sina and Leonardo dá Vinci; polymaths who are as much experts in the Humanities as they are in the Sciences.

Like these figures, Oloyede loves criss-crossing between Science and Arts. He does not understand why everyone cannot love being at their study spaces, for the rest of their lives. But you would easily forgive him since most people blessed with sight, seldom close their eyes for an hour, just to empathise with people who are not like them.

Fondly called I.O., Professor Oloyede is a fascinating personality with fecund fancies; call him cleric and you would be right. He first became a Shaykh by virture of knowledge. He is also one on account of his age. As Vice Chancellor, Oloyede’s versatile taste in fashion would get your appetite excited. From face caps to suits with elbow length sleeves, Oloyede was simple and elegant. Often touring the huge campus on foot during regular emergencies, he needed not to roll-up his sleeves when he wears such designs. I particularly like the cream coloured one.

To get Prof. Oloyede displeased, make excuses. To draw his ire, justify failure. To draw his attention, announce success. To get him dancing, surmount challenges, and to get him uncomfortable, sing his praises.

In him, I understand the saying among yorubas. Mo sun’mọba niwọn egbeje mo jina s’ọba níwọ̀n ẹgbẹfa. He is a royal of the academia and when you are to meet him , there are no half measures or halfways.

With a raised hand and clenched fist, I celeberate like he does, with the words:

“Awa ṣopẹ fún Ọlọrun Ọba, awa ṣọpẹ fun Ọlọrun Ọba. Ọba ti o d’oju adura tiwa ,awa ṣopẹ fun Ọlọrun Oba.”

*Mubarak Oladosu writes from the Directorate of Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin.