At symposium, dons, varsity administrators celebrate Professor Ayo Banjo’s memory, legacies

Eminent academics drawn from various fields in the humanities and beyond, gathered on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, to honour the memory and legacies of renowned scholar and university administrator, the late Professor Ayo Banjo.
The symposium, which was jointly organised by the Department of English, University of Ibadan, and the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), had speakers drawn from various fields of linguistics. The event, held at Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan, had as its theme: ‘The State of the Nigerian English Art’. Speakers who delivered papers at the symposium were Professors Nelson Fashina, Adenike Akinjobi, Yusuf Maitama, Mabel Osakwe, C.U.C. Ugorji, Taiwo Soneye, Imelda Udoh, Ademola Dasylva, Olusegun Awonusi.
Professor Banjo (2 May 1934 – 24 May 2024) was a university administrator and emeritus professor of English. He is regarded as the longest serving Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. He also served as pro-chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University. He was President, Nigeria Academy of Letters (2000–2004).
While welcoming guests and the public to the symposium, the head of the Department of English, University of Ibadan, Professor Fashina, noted that the gathering was in celebration of an icon. According to Professor Fashina, “We are here to celebrate an epoch, a generation of outstanding quality, a man who has made history, a man whose entire life straddles the Department of English, the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and the entire world. I told somebody this morning that if you ever attended primary school in Nigeria, you would know the name Ayo Banjo, especially concerning the English language. So he was a genius of the English language, a mentor, a teacher, former president of NAL and the longest-serving Vice-Chancellor ever of any Nigerian university.

“This is a man who is not dead but is alive because he is immortalised by his works and his contributions to the lives of individuals and the Department of English. He has been a mentor of mentors, a professor of professors, a genius of inexhaustible value, a family man, a great man, a man of history, a man of the century and therefore we have come to celebrate him. We have not come to mourn; we have come to rejoice and to say that his name will remain eternal on the sands of history. This is the person we have come to celebrate. This particular programme has been engineered by the collaboration of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, of course, the apex intellectual body to which the English department also belongs.
“Let me say that this particular event ought to have come up even before the demise of our great intellectual grandfather. Somehow the plans were on, but all the same, it pleased God almighty to take him before we implemented this programmer. But after the announcement of Baba’s transition, it was the joint decision of NAL ably led by our distinguished Professor Akinrinade and my humble self as the current head of the Department of English to make sure that we still implement the programme because we believe he is still living and will continue to be alive.”
Also giving his remarks, the Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Professor Wole Oyetade relieved some fond memories of Professor Banjo, stating that the symposium was held “not because of his (Professor Banjo’s) academics; it is not because of another thing but because of the qualities that Professor Ayo Banjo exhibited while alive. It is needless to say he was a great scholar in the area of language, linguistics, and everything put together. And for many of us who are here, we bore his name as our teacher, and as an author of great authors. Even the Holy Book, the Bible says let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour. But in his case, his honour is more than double. We continue to celebrate him because of his imprints. As a lecturer, administrator and longest-serving vice chancellor at the University of Ibadan, we need to appreciate him very sincerely. During troubled times, he was able to stand and he did not compromise the university as a citadel of learning to be a religious place where everything goes. He did not compromise the sanctity of the academy as the University of Ibadan.

“I related with him very closely when we were at the crossroads. We invited him when we started the Linguistics Association of Nigeria. He did not look down on us as 200 level students, myself and our president then. He agreed to deliver the lecture without notice. It was a great occasion for us and he redeemed us from shame that year. Professor Ayo Banjo was humane and a quintessential replica of the Omoluabi virtue. Anytime, any day you approach him, he is there for you. He didn’t exhibit the arrogance of power. Looking at him, walking on the corridor, you can just walk up to him and tell him your mind and he will readily come to your level and assist. As a faculty, we cherished him as our leading light in administration, and that is why the deputy vice chancellor, and as fate would have it, he later became the acting vice chancellor, and later the substantive chancellor, making him the longest serving vice chancellor in the University of Ibadan. We continue to celebrate him and he lives forever in our hearts and all the numerous publications that he had will continue to refer to him because scholars don’t die. Their works outlive them and he has contributed immensely to the teaching and learning of English language in Nigeria as a scholar and a quintessential applied linguist. The Faculty is glad to have this in his honour. So I would like to welcome everyone of us and I believe that we are going to have a wonderful time as we celebrate this icon, author and administrator of the University of Ibadan.”

For President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Professor Sola Akinrinade, told the gathering about the strings of events which led to the symposium. According to him, “This programme was not meant to be held at this time, it was meant to have been held before he passed. It was supposed to be his 90th birthday symposium, not a posthumous one but unfortunately, the programme could not be held before he passed so we have to do it as a posthumous event. If there is somebody I owe a debt of gratitude, it is Professor Munzali Jibril. Help me appreciate him. When the decision to have this programme was taken, I reached out to him. And we decided on the nature of the programme. How do we celebrate a titan, how do we celebrate an achiever, how do we celebrate an exemplary scholar if not in a programme like this? We are not having a Fuji party anywhere but this kind of thing Professor Ayo Banjo would have loved if he were still alive. And we had hoped that he would be alive to witness it but unfortunately he couldn’t. So Professor Munzali drew up the programme and he is here. And we agreed on the speakers and everything. We owe a debt of gratitude to Professor Munzali.
“I like to appreciate the University of Ibadan; the university has stayed close to the academy from inception. We appreciate the management of the university for its generosity and support over the years. And for partnering with us to hold this programme, I’m looking forward to the continued collaboration between the university and the Academy of Letters.
“We have our book of tributes which we are going to present to the family. I received the manuscript from the planning committee on Tuesday night, last week. I flipped through and there was nothing from the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. So I sent him a text. That was 9.30pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, the tribute was sent. And it shows the kind of respect Professor Ayo Banjo still enjoys in this university.

“To the Banjo family, like I told someone this morning, he died at 90, he didn’t die prematurely. We are just celebrating a man that has made an impact in his generation and has left a legacy that is worth celebrating for years to come. Professor Izevbaye, I have never met you, but I read your tribute and I was touched. Thank you so much, sir. Again, thank you all and welcome.”
The Vice Chancellor who was represented by his deputy, Professor Olapegba, noted that “Emeritus Ayo Banjo was larger than life. He was a passionate academic and astute researcher and an administrator par excellence. Of course, that was seen when he served as Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. As the longest Vice Chancellor in the history of the University of Ibadan, he served meritoriously and left indelible marks that cannot be erased. He proved to be a great man of means and resources and an unequalled conflict manager.
“The University of Ibadan has and will continue to celebrate this icon in recognition of his invaluable contributions. A special senate meeting will be held in his honour this Thursday, 8th of August, 2024, perhaps I should be quick to add that Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo attended all UI convocations and foundation day ceremonies since he left office except the last two due his frail health. I want to commiserate with the Ayo Banjo family on the loss of our dear Professor Ayo Banjo. We are missing him already and we pray that the almighty God will repose his soul. Once again, you are welcome to the celebration of life of our revered departed Vice Chancellor.

As a member of NAL, Professor Francis Egbokhare praised the stabilising role that Professor Banjo played in the academy while he was still alive. “There is something that is uncanny about fate that I found continually intriguing when I became president of NAL. I pray that I will not be the one to bury any of the living ancestors. My prayer was answered, and I thought I had escaped but here I am delivering this remark in honour of the greatest of them all, Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, winner, Nigeria National Order of Merit (NNOM), Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, one-time president of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, former Vice cChancellor, University of Ibadan, chair of council of many universities, immediate past chairman of the board of the National Universities Commission, consummate intellectual, public spirited individual, exemplary leader, man of reputable character, and a living ancestor. Professor Banjo, the second Ayo, twin of the first Ayo, straight as a fiddle, is too tall and upright.
“Banjo was royalty without a crown, he displayed such nobility that was infectious and you felt inadequate before him. His visage was one of nobility. His demeanour, that of a perfect gentleman. Good people die, and great ones are forgotten in time but ancestors live with us forever. Professor Ayo Banjo was a stabilising factor in the Nigerian Academy of Letters, a man of dignity and humility. He commanded respect without demanding attention. He didn’t have to raise his voice before people quiet down and listened. Ladies and gentlemen, I have one of the rare benefits of working with one of the greatest human beings, a humane individual, a person whom you can trust who spoke with only one tongue and is a pity that we have not had much of a longer time to live in. We envy his children because of the kind of personality that he displayed. He is the kind of father that you’d like to have. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak,” he said.

While recollecting the mentoring impact that Professor Banjo had in his life, Professor Festus Adesanoye remarked that “I am really Prof. Ayo Banjo’s first PhD student. As a matter of fact, in another month and 10 days, that will be September 16, it will be exactly 50 years since Ayo Banjo called me to his office and said “Festus we have made it.” That was when my PhD was earned. I’m going to be using present tense because to me Prof. Banjo cannot die. Today, please, let me use the present tense for a past event. He was my father for 57 years. Prof. Banjo is the best human being that I have ever known. He didn’t see me ever as a student. He took me as a member of his family. If there was anything that he’s going to do, he makes sure that I get to know about it. If he gets any prize, any award, he makes sure I get my own ten percent, my idamewa. It is very difficult to exhaust what you can say about Professor Banjo. Fortunately my friends, my colleagues, my juniors, the Osofisan, the Osundare could confirm that we have lost not only an extremely good teacher but also the finest human being that God has ever created. And I say to myself, if I was a catholic, I would have proposed that we nominate him for the sainthood. I don’t know how it is done, but absolutely Saint Ayo Banjo will be a good name anytime anywhere.”
Also reminiscing about the impact of her father, Madam Ayoyinka Banjo thanked all who had come to celebrate her father, stating that “My father was everything to me, he was my hero, he was my world, my go-to, my dictionary, my encyclopaedia. Whenever I had discussions in the office with the British people and they said something which I considered not quite right, I called my daddy and I’m like, ‘what do you think?’ And he sets us right. He steered each and every one of us in the right direction. He was always there for us. He was generous, loving, family-oriented, God-fearing.
“He is very calm. He does not argue, I have never heard him raise his voice. He had never hit me but his words. He does not impose. His words alone were worse than cane. All my education fees, even when I was doing masters, he paid my fees upfront, I had no problem, no worry but I still went to tell him, ‘Daddy, all my friends are working. I want to work.’ He said, ‘what do you want? Just concentrate on your person.’ He was that kind of person. Everybody thinks Professor Banjo’s children were extremely intelligent; I was kind of not, initially. I remember once when I was going to get to the university and I didn’t do well, and my mum called him, and was ‘Ah, Yinka, omoyii ko se daadaa.’ Then my father said, ‘okay no problem.’ He didn’t say anything to me. And he gave me a gift for failing and the next exams, I had all As.

“My father touched a lot of lives. I actually thought I was his pet. He treated everyone the same. But when his grandchildren came, we knew who his pets were. When my mum died, he stepped up because he didn’t want us to be depressed, so we didn’t see he was actually depressed because he stepped up and he filled the gap of mother and father. I spoke to him twice a day. Morning and night everyday. We were so close. So close my friends said: ‘you guys are so close.’ I tried and I said to my sister, I said, ‘were we too close?’ Because I don’t know how to deal with this. This is basically the worst thing. I thought my mum’s own was the worst that hit me, but this one is just disorienting, it is heart-wrenching. We just continue to thank God because my father was someone that children fasted and prayed for and we are blessed having him as our father.”
The symposium was attended by the university community as well as the public.