WE open this in memoriam with Oscar Wilde’s outstandingly thoughtful definition of a cynic. Wilde’s word-picture epigramatic explanation of a cynic as a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing is perhaps the closest figurative idea of every man respecting heaven or eternity.
The value of heaven is beyond the contemplation of any man but he struggles daily to pay the price to be admitted therein when ultimately his bell tolls.
Every man is enamoured by the idea of heaven but is put off when he is morbidly told that his present way of life or conduct may not assure him a place where angels nod in worshipful adoration of God all day long.

Man conceives of heaven as if it were a painful duty to be called up to watch, as a spectator, the idyllic beauty of a scenery no human language has been able to adequately describe or paint.
A sardonic observer of the human condition has wondered aloud why if heaven was all effusive praise and worship of God without an opportunity for symposia, lectures, workshops, question-and-answer sessions, etc for interrogating many of the mysteries of life, our eggheads may not deserve a place there to seek answers to their life-long search for the understanding of their purpose or ordination.
They may also want to know the source or basis of their own deep-seated omniscient egotism or of their awful pessimism respecting life’s pursuits.

In this essay, we erect a truly charitable epitaph for Professor Ayodele Olukotun who, three years ago, bid this world farewell for an engagement in eternity:
“Here lies Samuel Ayodele Olukotun: religious, moral, generous and humane. Affable Christian and a rigorous scholar.”
Every word spoken in this epitaph about Olukotun is true. Olukotun’s droll wit encompassed very many subjects as diverse as Music.
“King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey are a special gift to culture, entertainment and history. Nothing can be more enthralling than their brand of juju music.”

City living

“I am not enamoured of city life. Its rat race is suffocating. I will lose my sense of equilibrium. I will crack up.”

Church and faith

“The universe is ruled by immutable laws that are not set aside for the benefit or displeasure of any individual or entity. All humans have equal treatment regarding the laws. No special favours attend any group, sect or faith”
Olukotun read omnivorously almost from the time he learnt the alphabet. He never forgot a thing. He could, for instance, repeat word for word the whole of James Joyce’s principal book, Ulysses or Shakespeare’s Henry V or Othelo without a slip. And he was only too thrilled to share his awesome knowledge with others. Olukotun overflowed ceaselessly with learning.
As an essayist and literary critic, as well as an International Relations scholar, a journalism teacher and a rigorous academic, Olukotun lost no opportunity to launch reasoned attacks on our indescribably noxious penchant for misadventures. His weekly Friday Musings column in the Punch was perhaps the ample opportunity for brandishing his social conscience credentials. He utilised the power of the press for disembowelling the rot in society and for offering his considered suggestions.

Today’s official moral permissiveness by way of the iniquitous reward for inconsolable immorality and untold graft was just flowering in Olukotun’s time. It has regrettably matured exponentially into an oak tree particularly under the present political dispensation. The verbal jousting of Olukotun and of persons like him have thankfully set the stage for journalists, columnists and essayists of extraordinary ingenuity in social conscience writing.
There has emerged, as if deus ex machina, a fine crop of persons with evangelistic fervour to reset our unfortunate situation. These ones suffer fools not gladly and spare not the tendentious pastime of “data boys” ( a fanciful pseudonym for state-sponsored hack writers on the Internet spewing lies, inexactitudes, and manifesting shameless bravado on behalf of government).

Like as the time of the Olukotun phenomenon, there is appearing in the horizon a general intellect-driven reaction to misgovernance, disreputable politicians, seedy political office holders, drunken black guards, swindlers, and a burgeoning class of slaves to narcotics. These fiercely moralistic essayists are resolutely confronting the shenanigans of government and of society; calling out mischievous displays or many deceitful jinks of men in authority.
As a raconteur or skilful narrator of the events of his growing up years, Olukotun was non pareil. He would, for instance, retell with unfeigned candour the story of his giddy studentship days at Ife with bubbling wit and fellow alumni would wonder if they ever caught the Great Ife charm. Olukotun possessed all the qualities that qualify him as a perfect gentleman – empathy, sensitivity, grace and charm. His ability to persuade, delight and arouse admiration remains, even in his transition, a delightful talking point.

It is comforting that Olukotun, despite his thoughtful concern for the fate of Nigeria, remained a contented or satisfied man in his private life. His intensely sociable interactions fittingly matched his rigorous intellectual pursuits. His vintage quick-witted responses at Ife became legendary. Every greeting or salutation of Olukotun by passersby was an opportunity for a delightful or rib-cracking riposte.
One wishes Ayo were around to see how his vision of Nigeria which resonates with the clear-eyed ideological position for the devolution of power to the constituent sub-national entities or federating units is now being championed even in hitherto-opposing climes under the popular lingo of ‘Restructuring’.

One of man’s oldest taboos is popularly expressed in Latin as “De motus nihil nisi bonum”. Speak nothing but good of the dead. A plain statement of facts, not to talk of a touch of irreverence, is regarded as ‘an insulting liberty’. Reasonable people however always take a rather skeptical view of excessively flattering obituary that celebrates the virtues and glosses over the foibles of the departed.
In one notable instance, the record of history has been unfair to some forlorn potentate. Although strictly speaking, he was not a criminal, an innovative or otherwise exuberant minister of Louis XIV had fared better than was accorded him even as the following epitaph became his eulogy:

“Here lies the father of taxation.
May Heaven, his faults forgiving,
Grant him repose, which he, while living,
Would never grant the nation”
-R.A.Davenport(1777-1852) on Jean Baptiste Colbert.
In Samuel Ayodele Olukotun’s case, a most profound assurance regarding his place in the hereafter is rendered thus:
“Here he lies. Samuel Ayodele Olukotun.
Everyone is pained even as everybody grieves.
Where his soul’s gone
Many know, and everybody is comforted.”
-Anonymous
Ayo, continue to rest in the bosom of your Lord and Master.

• Rotimi-John, a lawyer and inspirational friend of Professor Ayo Olukotun, is the Deputy Secretary-General of Afenifere. [email protected]