BJ: The many sides to an irrepressible scholar and patriot

By Nehru Odeh

In life, Biodun Jeyifo was many things at once: a scholar of formidable range, a Marxist critic with a poet’s sensitivity, a unionist who believed fiercely in justice, and a teacher whose intellectual generosity shaped generations across continents. But to friends and students he was simply BJ: a booming voice, a restless mind, and a man who refused to separate scholarship from the struggle for a better society.

The uncanny way he built bridges, broke boundaries, collapsed differences and combined the seriousness of an intellectual with the everyday concerns and pastimes of the people, especially the poor, endeared him to many. He was indeed at home with the rich and the poor, the highbrow and the unsophisticated, as well as the cultured and the uncultured.

Yet at the heart of his social interactions and encounters with people was his legendary generosity, his deep concern for the plight of the poor, his boundless appetite for conversations and his unbridled capacity for letting his guard down, which many sometimes mistook for a carefree attitude.

Many will also never forget the way his berets and hats always sat slantingly on his cerebral head, his characteristic smile, his inquisitive questions and insatiable intellectual curiosity. Yet he was simple in his complexity and complex in his simplicity.

This is indeed the story of BJ. It was for these and many other reasons that his family, former students, comrades, colleagues and friends converged at the Omolayole Hall of the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, to celebrate the man whose life not only traversed Ibadan, New York, Cornell, Harvard and Beijing, but whose mind had shaped theirs. The occasion was an evening of tributes held in his honour on Tuesday, March 3, 2026. It will be recalled that Jeyifo passed away on February 11, a month and five days after he celebrated his 80th birthday in Lagos.

It was indeed an evening of tributes, memories, appreciation and, of course, laughter. It was also a celebration of a man who spent his life moulding minds, nurturing students and fighting not just for the common good but for the betterment of the masses. The AJ Sequential Highlife Band and Ibadan City Chorale enlivened the evening with classic highlife music and soul stirring songs respectively.

Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, BJ’s childhood friend and colleague who anchored the event, set the tone in his brief welcome address when he described it as “the celebration of a life, one person who meant the world to us.”

It is also instructive to note that the tributes that poured in built a portrait of a man who was at once brilliant, irreverent, disciplined, compassionate and endlessly curious.

Dr Solomon Ladipo, another childhood friend and classmate at Ibadan Boys’ High School, said the renowned scholar’s love for literature and the arts was nurtured during that period under the tutelage of Pa Modupe Oduyoye, himself an old boy of the school now over 90 years old, and two American teachers at the time, Mr Alexander Severance and Mr Schuh, who brought along several books by American authors.

“It was also during that period that his passion for the oppressed manifested,” Ladipo reminisced, adding that his academic brilliance became apparent when he came top of his class in June 1970 with first class honours, a feat which made him the third person to achieve that class of degree in the history of the department established in 1948.

Prof. Rasheed Olaniyi spoke in two capacities, as Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, and as the representative of the President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Prof Andrew Haruna. Olaniyi described BJ as a great bridge between the intellectual world and the common man on the streets of Nigeria, Africa and, by extension, the whole world.

“We are gathered tonight not to witness the closing of a book, but to celebrate a library that refused to stay quiet. We are here to honour Emeritus Professor Biodun Jeyifo, our BJ, a man who spent 80 years proving that the sharpest weapon in any revolution is a mind that refuses to be bought.

“BJ was a real intellectual who could navigate the society of high theory without ever losing the dust of Ibadan streets on his shoes. To BJ, literature was never a pastime. It was a social mandate. He taught us that when we read a play or a poem, we are not just looking at words. We are looking at the architecture of our freedom.

“BJ has not departed in the final sense. He has simply transited into the very works he wrote and the students he moulded. He lives in every lecture that challenges the status quo. He lives in the moral clarity of every writer who refuses to blink in the face of tyranny,” Olaniyi said.

In her speech titled “I Will Miss BJ,” Prof Nike Osofisan referenced the striking resemblance between her husband, Prof Femi Osofisan, and BJ when they were students at the University of Ibadan.

“I miss you as my husband’s bosom friend, who looked so much like a blood brother and acted that way too. When they were growing up, the three of them, BJ, Kole Omotoso and Femi Osofisan, looked so much alike. You could hardly tell the difference,” Nike said, adding that BJ was kind and generous to a fault.

She also highlighted the instrumental role BJ played in her academic journey, particularly during her master’s and doctoral studies.

“I cannot but recount the role you played in my academic life. You and Sheila encouraged me to go to Georgia Tech for my master’s degree. You bailed me out of a difficult situation at the University of Ife,” she said, referring to BJ’s intervention when her acting Head of Department refused to send her PhD thesis to the Postgraduate School for assessment for many months.

“BJ, as the president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities at the time, came to my department at the University of Ife to meet my supervisor and, because the supervisor did not want ASUU trouble, he quickly forwarded my thesis to the appropriate quarters. I stand here, BJ, to say you played a major role in my academic success because you supported me throughout.”

Nike also spoke about the love BJ had for her children. “He was like a second father to them, so interested in their progress.” She cracked up the hall when she said that whenever she wanted something from her husband and he was reluctant, she would call BJ and her husband would quickly get it done.

She added that BJ believed that if everyone worked on their character and how they related with others, the world would become a better place.

“But even at that, he was not an atheist as many people believed. He believed in God. Anytime he was in our church, he read Bible passages. One thing that gladdens my heart is that when I went to see him on February 10, a day before he breathed his last, I was informed he had been singing a song. The song, which I was then led by the Holy Spirit to recognise, was the Christian hymn ‘Igbagbo mi durolori’ (My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less). This made me very glad that even in his last moments, he believed in God.”

Mr Kunle Ajibade also spoke eloquently about BJ’s superb qualities as a university teacher and scholar, as well as his love for scholarship, literature and advocacy for good governance.

“BJ was one of the best teachers we ever had. He was a deep thinker whose knowledge was always on full display in class. You wanted to listen to him because he was very compassionate. You wanted to argue with him because of his blazing intellect.

“He was, to the best of my knowledge, the most erudite, brilliant and sincere of the literary theorists on the left in Africa at that time. Check out his rigorous, groundbreaking theoretical and academic articles. Check out his books, particularly his Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism. Check out his lucid and liberating journalism and his eloquent interviews.

“He was a taskmaster of a teacher who intentionally made a long list of books compulsory mainly to boost our radical questioning and critical thinking.”

“It is such an honour to call BJ our teacher. It is a privilege to call him our friend. His exemplary life remains a source of inspiration, and his excellent work remains a blessing,” Ajibade said.

Ms Ayoka Samuel, BJ’s daughter, who was named after his mother, spoke about her father’s legacy.

“The loss of my father has me thinking a lot about legacy. Legacy as the sum total of our experiences. Legacy as the wealth we have built, not in monetary value but in relationships. Legacy as knowledge built and experiences accumulated.”

She added that one of the legacies she inherited from her father was his “fire”.

“I share my father’s fire. I am grateful for this inherited fire, this transformational fire, this restlessness to work for liberation from all systems of oppression. I’m grateful to have inherited a strong mind and vision.”

“He was a bright light, and I truly feel a light has gone out in the world. But we may carry his brilliance, we may carry his shine,” Ayoka maintained.

The event continued with tributes from several speakers including Mr Kayode Komolafe, Prof Chris Piwuna, Ms Lola Jeyifous, Mr Tola Mobolurin, Iyalode Folasade Ogunbiyi, Prof Femi Osofisan, Prof Niyi Osundare and BJ’s sons, Okunola and Lekan.

The evening also featured a moving tribute from Nobel Laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, who recalled BJ’s days at the University of Ibadan and how he insisted that the brilliant student be awarded a First Class Honours degree despite initial resistance from the department.

The vote of thanks delivered by BJ’s second son, Lekan, whom Ogunbiyi had earlier said looked every inch like his father in mannerisms and humour, signalled the end of a memorable evening of tributes to a scholar who not only pushed the frontiers of knowledge but also moulded lives, influenced generations of students across the globe and fought for social justice until his passing on February 11.