‘He Lives On’ – See How University Of Ibadan Celebrated Pius Adesanimi With Candlelight March (Photos)

According to a report by SaharaReporters, some members of University of Ibadan community as well as many others who identified with the late Canada-based Nigerian satirist, scholar and public intellectual, Professor Pius Adesanmi, have gathered for ‘A March’ in honour of the late professor who lost his life in the Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crash of Sunday, March 10.

It was indeed a sobering Wednesday on the university campus, as many professors, doctorate holders, students and media personalities marched to celebrate the life of the brilliant public intellectual.

According to the anchor of the March, Mr. Ropo Ewenla, it was not a time to mourn the late Adesanmi but a moment to celebrate a self-immortalised man whom many described as “too good to die”.

Adesanmi, who was referred to as a friend of the University of Ibadan’s Institute of African Studies, probably foretold his departure from this realm in his ever last Facebook post.

Many people within and outside university who participated in the march testified that Pius Adesanmi lived as a sage despite his young years. 

Professor Ademola Dasylva, the Dean of Faculty of Arts celebrated Adesanmi’s exploits as a young professor, describing his passing as “a great loss to everyone, to Nigeria, to Africa and to the world”.

While lamenting the “executive murder” of his friend by the Boeing airplane, Professor Aderemi Raji-Oyelade reflected that it was quite unfortunate that Adesanmi fell victim to the failures and mediocrity which he often criticized. 

Barrister Femi Aborisade, who rounded off at the point of lighting the candles, said he was mourning Adesanmi regrettably because he had met the Kogi-born scholar only once before the accident that claimed his life. He, however, remarked that Adesanmi resolutely and consistently stood for the masses, an act which he said is worthy of emulation. 

Adesanmi’s writings live on even as he predicted in one of his posts: “A thousand years from now, archaeologists would be interested in how some people called Nigerians lived in the 20th and 21st centuries. If they did and excavate, I am hoping that fragments of my writings survive to point them to the fact that not all of them accepted to live as slaves.”

Pius Adesanmi studied for a master’s degree in French from the University of Ibadan in 1998.