Celebrating a man of intellectual prowess

Dr Samuel Olalekan Agboola Oyedeji was a man of great intellectual prowess. He died at the beginning of 2022 and left family, friends and well wishers to mourn him. I met Prof. Lekan Oyedeji on January 19, 1953 when our father, the late Pa Johnson Oyedeji, introduced him to me.

Lekan’s life was full of activity and events. His activities and events he performed meritoriously. He attended Christ Apostolic Church Schools Olugbode and Oniyanrin and he was senior prefect in the two schools. He also attended Adeola Odutola Comprehensive High School, Ijebu Ode, with a double promotion and was sponsored to St. Andrew College Oyo. He later became the governor at St. Andrews  College Oyo, for one year. He taught at Adeola Odutola Comprehensive High School Ijebu Ode. Later, Adeola Odutola sponsored him to university  of Ibadan where he became the president of the students union.

After spending just one year as a teacher at Adeola Odutola comprehensive High School, the Federal Government sent him to United Nations International School to teach. He later attended new York University where he obtained a PhD.

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The City University of New York gave him professorship job and he later headed the Black Studies Department at the university.

Professor Biaobuku-Lekan, professor at University of Ibadan would later give him a job to work at University of Lagos. Lekan’s life was full of activities indeed.

He was always honest, kind and hardworking.

Lekan was very helpful in making sure a lot of people got professional education; one of whom I am. He was instrumental to my securing one of the five scholarships I used at United State of America. Lekan Oyedeji was the first president of the Ibadan Lagelu Cultural Group in New York.

Lekan had a wonderful sense of humour. He travelled widely and was a good writer and an eloquent speaker. He wrote so many papers on education, economics, health and politics.

Kunle Ajao, USA.