Professor Wale Omole, the visit that will never be! — by Temitope Ajayi

I read of the passing of Professor Wale Omole yesterday through a news link shared on a broadcast platform. I immediately had a sense of foreboding. Not long afterwards, a friend and former university classmate sent another link, this time from The Guardian, confirming the sad news.

I met Professor Omole, renowned Animal Scientist and former Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, on a few occasions at public events, many years after his retirement from the university. I made it a point of duty to greet him whenever our paths crossed. The moment you introduced yourself as an ex-Ife student, you could see the excitement in him. He would light up and become animated. He was greatly fond of the university and very romantic about it.

Professor Omole was himself a graduate of the university. He rose to become a distinguished professor, an internationally renowned authority in Animal Science and the first alumnus of the institution to occupy the office of Vice-Chancellor. It was a remarkable journey from student to the very pinnacle of the university’s academic and administrative leadership.

But I will never forget my last encounter with him. He invited me to visit him at his residence in GRA, Ikeja. I promised I would make time to see him. That visit will now never happen. I had looked forward to sitting down with him for a long conversation and asking him questions about his stewardship at OAU. There were so many things I wanted to hear from him, particularly about his years as Vice-Chancellor. Sadly, the opportunity has slipped away.

Beyond his towering academic accomplishments and the productive life he built after leaving the university, including his business interests and his role as Chairman of the Editorial Board of The Guardian, Professor Omole had an unmistakable sense of sartorial elegance. You would hardly catch him in anything other than his immaculate white outfits. He wore them with a distinction that was entirely his own.

I, therefore, took a different view when my former classmate offered prayers for the family while making an oblique reference to what he considered the professor’s ‘faults’. I knew he was alluding to aspects of his tenure as Vice-Chancellor and some of the rather silly and idealistic things we did as undergraduates in those days.

My response to him was simple.

“I don’t know any of his faults. Certainly, he would have had some, as every human being does. But we were largely ignorant young boys and girls when he was Vice-Chancellor at OAU. We often assumed that running an institution was child’s play, especially when we were demanding the impossible.”

Looking back, I suspect some of the things we regarded as grievances then were simply the frustrations of youthful idealism and our limited understanding of the enormous responsibilities of managing a university.

The university has since issued a comprehensive statement paying a fitting tribute to its former student and, arguably, one of its most distinguished administrators.

For me, however, beyond the tributes and the impressive record of accomplishments, there remains one personal regret. I wish I had made that visit to his Ikeja residence when I had the chance.

May the family of Professor Wale Omole find comfort.