I really find it difficult to describe and appropriately situate my relationship with Emeritus Professor Babafemi Osofisan, popularly and familiarly called FO by many. I repeat that it is difficult to situate our relationship because all the lines demarcating different types of relationship and affinity have become blurred over the years.
I first met Femi Osofisan by reputation through his literary works read in the secondary schools and tertiary institutions’ departments of languages and literatures, even in General Studies programmes. I have been admiring his literary exploits and especially his linguistic manipulation and domestication of the English language as recommended inSoyinka and Achebe’s postulations.
Before I met Professor Osofisan in person, I had published two articles on a few of his literary works, especially Once Upon Four Robbers and his detective novel. When I joined the University of Ibadan as a Lecturer Grade II in 1998, I met Prof. Osofisan as one of the towering scholars and literary icons, not only in our Faculty of Arts, but in the extended literary circle, within and outside Nigeria.
During my PhD research, I had to unapologetically lean on Osofisan’s PhD Thesis, “The Origins of Drama in West Africa: A Study of the Development of Drama from the Traditional Forms to the Modern Theatre in English and French,“ defended in 1974, and ably supervised by that iconic literary critic and humanist philosopher, Emeritus Professor Abiola Irele, the first Nigerian professor of French, and a Négritude apostle. Osofisan’s PhD thesis remains evergreen in our departmental library in the Department of Modern Languages (now European Studies), University of Ibadan. I became closer to Prof Osofisan when I discovered that he was a product of my department, holding BA and PhD in French, and he eventually became a lecturer in the same Department. After successfully defending his PhD thesis, he rose to the grade of Senior Lecturer in French Studies, Department of Modern Languages. The lure of Arts and Theatre scholarship motivated the then Dr Babafemi Osofisan to transfer his service to the Department of Theatre Arts. I also learnt that the influence of the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, could not be wished away in that career re-orientation embarked upon by FO, and I dare say that it paid up very significantly.
Recently in one of our Departmental meetings, we were reviewing the portraits of the past Heads of the Department,hanging on the wall, an initiative that I took during my Acting Headship of the Department. I informed my colleagues that the portraits of two of the former HoDs were missing: Femi Osofisan and Nicole Medjigbodo.
As a chosen role model, it did not take me much time and effort to warm myself into the heart and group of Professor Osofisan’s network of mentees. Little did I realize that the natural attraction I had for Prof Osofisan at that time coincided with his inexplainable interest in me, a Lecturer Grade II (a ‘junior colleague’!). Prof. Osofisan emphasized this in his tribute on my 60th Birthday, on the 12th February2026. He said, “sometimes, you just grow to like someone, even deeply, without knowing why, or needing to explain. And not once, until certain formal situations -such as a birthday or some other commemorative event- demand of you, then you pause to make an assessment, analysing what and what you share, what brought you together, and what it is that has kept you on”. This statement from the Emeritus Professor clearly underscores the fact that he has willingly taken me as a “son,” and he mentioned it in his tribute that “Tunde is the one who, without any direct biological linkage, I fondly call ‘my son’…”.
I was prudently enjoying the mentoring of Prof. Osofisan in the Faculty though at a distance until providence brought us together very closely in Berlin, Germany, in 2010, when I hadan unrestricted access to this erudite scholar for an uninterrupted period of three months. I was on a DAAD research fellowship in Humboldt University campus at Unter den Laden, while Professor Osofisan was on a research sojourn at Rudesheimerplatz.
It felt like a son staying with his father, as I often had my lunch and dinner in his apartment. I seized that opportunity to engage Professor Osofisan academically and intellectually. It was indeed a turning point in my career, research, and scholarship because professor Osofisan re-oriented my research focus and scholarship. He encouraged me to be more multidisciplinary and culturally–oriented. For this timely intervention, I remain eternally grateful to FO.
Another interesting instance I would like to mention was when I was appointed by the Faculty of Arts Academic Boardinto the selection committee of Emeritus Professors. Prof Osofisan was one of the highly qualified professors considered, and they all proudly made it at the university level. This opportunity gave me an unrestricted access to his curriculum vitae and some of his critical and creative works. What a great motivation!
In 2019, when the position of Director/CEO of the Nigeria French Language Village (the Inter-University Centre for French Studies), Badagry, became vacant, I decided to apply for the top job. I approached Emeritus Professor Osofisan for his opinion having served in a similar position as General Manager/CEO of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, some years earlier. He encouraged me while also shared his fears about the Nigerian system. He wrote a robust and tantalizing referee report for me. Thank God, I was selected at the interview and was subsequently appointed for a single term of five years by the late President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR.
Emeritus Professor Femi Osofisan is a good family man worthy of emulation. I enjoy visiting his house; his beloved wife, Prof. Nike Osofisan, always makes me feel at home. I am sure the love for my family by his wife is also not unconnected to the fact that Toluwa, my wife, is also from Ondo State and attended Fiwasaye Girls’ Grammar School like Prof Nike Osofisan. She always gives reminiscences of this prestigious Akure secondary school anytime we visit them.
My dear Dad and Emeritus Professor, as you attain the age of 80 years, on behalf of my family, our sincere prayer is that may God Almighty continue to bless you with good health, happiness, peace of mind, long life, and abundance of wealth. Amen.
Bon anniversaire cher Boss et Papa. Je vous souhaite tout le bonheur du monde.
JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE.
Babatunde Ayeleru, FNAL
Professor of French, Applied Linguistics, African Literatures& Cultures
Department of European Studies,
University of Ibadan
&
Immediate Past Director/CEO
Nigeria French Language Village,
Badagry, Lagos.
