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Renowned
Historian and Emeritus Professor, Institute of African studies Univ. of Ibadan
Prof Tekena Tamuno
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NAIJAGRAPHITTI BLOG Team joins the entire community of relatives, friends, and professional colleagues of the
foremost Professor of History and former Vice-Chancellor of the university,
University of Ibadan, Professor Tekena Tamuno, to commiserate his demise. Professor Tamuno died at the weekend
in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital aged 83.
We respect the wishes of the famil who would like to treat this as a "private family affair".
However
reactions to the late eminent historian has been pouring in from all
corners as friends and associates react to the shocking news.
THISDAY newspaper reports:
Reacting
to Tamuno’s death, the Secretary Nigerian Academic of Letters (NAL) and fellow
historian, Prof. Olutayo Charles Adesina, said the Nigerian academic community
and indeed the nation had lost “an extremely cerebral historian and foremost
scholar of the humanities, who combined both the rigour and flexibility needed
for a better understanding of his field.”
Adesina, a former Head, Department of History, UI, where the deceased had also
taught, said the late historian was an extremely approachable academic with
excellent interpersonal relations qualities. “They don’t build them like that
anymore; he was a study in humility.”
Another
colleague and erudite linguist, Prof. Francis Egbokhare, echoed Adesina remark,
saying: “For a man of his kind of stature, an intellectual and administrator,
he was unbelievably accessible to the younger ones, unlike others who would
strut like Emperors.
“If
you were with him, you may forget you were not with your age mate. But, more
importantly, he was a man who had great faith in God.”
Besides,
Egbokhare said the late Tamuno, a prolific author of many books and articles in
journals, would be missed for his numerous and quality intellectual
contributions.
Tamuno
served as Chancellor, Redeemer’s University; Chairman of the presidential panel
on National Security from October 2001 to December 2002 and panel on Policing
Nigeria Project 2002 to 2003.
As
a poet and historian, Tamuno, was a fellow of both the Nigerian Academy of
Letters and Rockefeller Foundation and a member of the National Universities
Commission (NUC).
Born
on January 28, 1932, in Okrika, Rivers State, he attended St. Peter,s School,
Okrika from 1938 to 46; Okrika Grammar School, Okrika from 1947 to 51;
University College, Ibadan from 1953 to1958; Birkbeck College, University of
London from 1960 to 62; and Columbia University, New York City, United States
from 1965 to 66.
Obasanjo mourns ex-UI VC, Tamuno
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, on
Tuesday described the death of Prof. Tekena Tamuno, as a great loss to the
Tamuno family of Okrika in particular and the nation in general.
This
is contained in a condolence letter to late Tamuno’s wife, Amuno, and made
available to journalists in Abeokuta.
Obasanjo,
who said he received the news of Tamuno’s death with sadness, said, “I was sad
because we will miss his contributions to the building of a new Nigeria of his
dream, but I am grateful to God for such a life well spent in the service of
our fatherland.”
“Your
late husband was somebody I knew very well in the days of my being appointed as
distinguished fellow of the University of Ibadan in the Institute of African
Studies after I left public office as a military Head of State.
“Also,
in the days I used to host the Farm House Dialogue on a number of subjects of
national, sub-regional and international interest, Prof. Tamuno was a regular
participant in the company of Professors Akin Mabogunje, Adebayo Adedeji and
host of other personalities.
“I
always found his contributions incisive, profound and authentic and he was quite
a warm, receptive and homely personality, soft-spoken and generous with his
smile.
“Prof.
Tamuno was one of the very few who can be said that their lives brought a
blessing to their generation.”
Obasanjo
added that, “His most inspiring life and career as a celebrated historian and a
respected publisher were well acknowledged.
“He
was by all standards an illustrious Nigerian, who during his lifetime made
contributions to the development of the major national institutions with which
he was associated, among which were the University of Ibadan and The Bells
University of Technology.
“The
late Professor was a leading figure in African History, judging from the
seminal calibre and pioneering nature of his work as well as the exceptional
quality of students who passed through his hand.
“We
would have wished that he is still alive to continue with us on the Nigerian
project but the cold hand of death has snatched him away,” he said.
The former president prayed
Almighty God to comfort all who mourned Tamuno and grant his soul eternal rest.
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