Literary community was thrown into mourning with the passing of renowned scholar, literary critic, public intellectual, Marxist and committed trade unionist, Prof. Biodun Jeyifo.

Popularly known as BJ, he died one month and five days after he celebrated his 80th birthday in Lagos. He was said to have died at about 11:20 a.m. in a hospital in Ibadan during a routine medical check.

The President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Prof. Andrew Haruna (FNAL), in a condolence message, regretted the death of the scholar, who had a distinguished career at the then University of Ife and later held dual appointments at Cornell and Harvard universities.

“May his gentle soul rest in peace and may God comfort the family he left behind,” Haruna said.

The Head of Drama at the University of East Anglia, UK, Dr Sola Adeyemi-Fatosin, said in a tribute: “He was one of the most influential figures in modern African letters: a critic of formidable intellect, a pioneering theatre scholar, a committed unionist and a teacher whose influence spanned continents. His work helped define the study of African drama and performance, while his public life embodied a principled commitment to justice, academic freedom and the dignity of labour.”

Born in Ibadan, Jeyifo was the first student to earn a first-class degree in English from the University of Ibadan in 1970, followed by a master’s from the same institution in 1973, and a doctorate from New York University in 1975.

He served as the first National President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in Nigeria and was a notable voice in public discourse through his journalism and critical essays.

Jeyifo is generally regarded as the world’s pre-eminent scholarly authority on the works and career of Wole Soyinka. His award-winning book on the 1986 Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Postcolonialism (Cambridge University Press, 2004), is regarded as the most comprehensive study of the author’s work, and the most sophisticated single-author study of any writer in African postcolonial studies.

Aside from numerous critical essays, his scholarly works include: The Truthful Lie: Essays in the Sociology of African Drama (1985); Wole Soyinka: Politics, Poetics and Post colonialism (2004); Things Fall Apart, Things Fall Together (2010); Against the Predators’ Republic (2016); Apostrophes: To Friendship, Socialism and Democracy (2021).

He is survived by Okunola; Lekan, popularly called Lek; and Ayoka.