TRIBUTE: A builder has gone home — by Adedokun Abolarin

The last time I saw Professor Wale Omole was at Ilesa. I had gone on a courtesy visit to the newly enthroned Owa of Ijesaland — His Imperial Majesty, Owa Clement Adesuyi Haastrup, Ajimoko III, Owa Obokun Adimula and Paramount Ruler of Ijesaland — and there we met.

We relived, briefly, the years in Ife. Not the years when he was Vice Chancellor. No.
We spoke of the mid-70s to the mid-80s — when my generation looked up to them as builders of our great university, The University of Ife.
Those were the years of foundation. The years when men gave their youth, their intellect, and their strength, not for reward, but for a vision bigger than themselves.
Professor Omole was very fond of Great Ife, as an alumnus should be. He loved it deeply. Not with words alone, but with work. He built it selflessly, with other greats, brick by brick, idea by idea, sacrifice by sacrifice.

He believed in Ife. He believed that a university could shape a nation. And he gave himself to that belief. His demise at 84 is another attestation to a simple, sobering truth: life itself is extremely short.

Eighty-four years may sound long, but to those who knew him, it feels like a brief visit. A short season to plant, to build, to love, and to leave.
And that is why we must crave legacy, not luxury. We must build, not just live.

What endures is not what we gather, but what we build for others. Not the titles we hold, but the institutions we strengthen. Not the wealth we keep, but the lives we lift.

Professor Omole built. He built a university. He built men and women. He built a legacy that will outlive us all.
When the history of Great Ife is told, his name will be there — not as a footnote, but as one of the builders.

May his soul rest in perfect peace. May his family be comforted. And may Great Ife never forget her own. Adieu, Professor Wale Omole. A builder. An alumnus. A legend.

–HRM Abolarin is the Orangun of Oke-Ila