Modibbo Kawu
When the news broke of the passing of Biodun Jeyifo (BJ), one of the first persons that I spoke with was Kayode Komolafe. I knew how close he was to BJ; we reminisced on the truly remarkable human being, revolutionary intellectual, and a man of very deep sensibilities, that had just passed at the age of 80. Indeed, BJ was one of the most outstanding members of the Nigerian revolutionary movement, who dedicated his life to the liberation of our country, while also becoming one of the greatest literary scholars of the contemporary world.
In 1980, I took time off from my work in broadcasting to study for a Diploma in Mass Communication at the University of Lagos. I became President of the Marxist League, and we took very seriously the task of organizational work amongst students in the very cosmopolitan setting of UNILAG. It was a challenging experience because of the strongly petty-bourgeois setting, with very few students drawn to radical ideas. The main trends were parties, social outings, and the attendant hassling, as well as an entrenched Christian religious current on campus.
That year, I attended the Ife Book Fair, which used to be one of the most celebrated annual cultural events in Nigeria. I recall now, that each year, the defunct WEST AFRICA magazine, used to devote very copious attention to the Fair. Most people attending the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife today, or even younger members of faculties, can be forgiven for probably not knowing that their campus used to host such an international gathering devoted to books. Publishers from all over the world used to be at Ile-Ife, and we got the privilege to purchase very good quality materials, and the most recent publications.
As it turned out, there was staged a night of readings, on the finale of the Fair. BJ was to read passages from Wole Soyinka’s Jero Plays. However, that afternoon, he lost his voice and as he was agonizing about what to do to regain the voice, I walked into his office.
BJ was delighted that as a broadcaster, I must be able to prescribe something to help in a quick recovery of his voice for the reading scheduled for the next couple of hours. I teased BJ to crack an egg and swallow the yolk and albumen raw. He objected, saying that he would vomit! I then urged him to try as much as he could to maintain a disciplined silence and not strain the voice further in the remaining hours before the performance.
By the time the event kicked off, BJ had partially regained the use of his voice enough, for him to present his reading for the night. That night of readings closed the Ife Book Fair, for that year. I was to return to Lagos the following day, and luckily for me, BJ was going to Lagos too, because at the time, he was the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities ( ASUU), and he offered me a ride.
The following morning, I met up with BJ in his office, and together we went to the spot where his very famous white Volkswagen Beetle was parked. Just the two of us in the vehicle, we set forth for the trip to Lagos.
The first thing that struck me was that he strapped himself into his seat with the seatbelt. At that time in Nigeria, practically everyone that drove a car, at least as much as I had experienced, never used the seatbelt! As a matter of fact, commercial drivers used to actually cut off their seatbelts and would use them to tow broken down vehicles!
The second thing that I experienced was just how fast BJ drove. The speedometer was hitting the highest points, but he was, nevertheless, very attentive, despite the discussion that we had throughout the journey. These ranged from the readings from the previous night, the Fair, the book culture in Nigeria, and the organizational issues within the Nigerian socialist movement.
We stopped along the way to purchase boiled maize, tucked into the delight, and continued the trip. We resumed our wide-ranging discussions throughout the trip, and into Lagos, and then onwards into the campus of the University of Lagos.
That trip has been etched into my memory because over those few hours of driving from Ile-Ife to Lagos, I got quite some measure of the man: deep intellect; genuine human warmth; and sincere commitment to the liberation of our country. Over the years, long after he exited the University of Ife, like most of the outstanding intellectuals of that era, he maintained very regular newspaper columns, which offered us remarkable insights into his mind as a public intellectual, who retained a consistent engagement with all the major national and international issues of a very troubling epoch in human history of the past three to four decades or so.
With the passing of our dear Biodun Jeyifo (BJ), we have lost a man of encyclopedic knowledge and deep culture, who gave his all, in the service of humanity, and for the liberation of Nigeria.
Abuja, Friday, February 20th, 2026.
Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, PhD, FNGE .
