Professor Kole Omotoso

Professor Kole Omotoso, today died in South Africa at the age of 80. As contained in a statement by the family: “Our beloved father and husband moved on from this plane on Wednesday 19th late afternoon. We are sharing this with his close and much loved community and will share more as we gather ourselves. Thank you for your care and love and support. Akin, Pelayo, Yewande and Bukky.”

Professor Kole Omotoso (a native of Akure, Ondo State) who turned 80 on 21 April, was a man of many parts. When this reporter visited Pretoria, South Africa, some years ago, he saw Omotoso’s high-definition photographs on massive billboards. As the Yebo Gogo (Hello Grandmother) man, he was the face of a long-running marketing campaign for Vodacom’s mobile phone in that country. The billboards were also scattered in cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Sun City, and East London.

When he visited TheNEWS in Lagos, the reporter told him what he saw. He smiled and said that’s one of those things “I do for additional income.” True. He was a man who was catholic in his breadth of interests…

Professor Omotoso and the Yebo Gogo Vodacom advert in South Africa

He taught in Ife, later South Africa, Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State, and back to South Africa. The author of Just Before Dawn and other works is an admirable human being, a moral exemplar and a mentor of many souls.

Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso (Kole Omotoso, for short) was born on 21 April 1943 in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. He was a Nigerian writer and intellectual best known for his works of fiction and in South Africa as the “Yebo Gogo man” in adverts for the telecommunications company Vodacom. His written work, according to biographical writings on him, aggregated by Wikipedia, was known for its dedication and commitment to fusing a socio-political reappraisal of Africa and respect for human dignity into most of his works.

Omotoso was educated at King’s College, Lagos, and the University of Ibadan and then undertook a doctoral thesis on the modern Arabic writer Ahmad Ba Kathir at the University of Edinburgh.

Omotoso returned to Ibadan to lecture on Arabic studies (1972–76), then moved to the University of Ife to work in drama (1976–88). He became a writer for various magazines (including West Africa) in the 1970s and was well known among Nigeria’s literate elites. His major themes include interracial marriage, comic aspects of the Biafran-Nigerian conflict, and the human condition—as exemplified in friendship between the Yoruba and the Igbo and in relationships between children and parents.

His 1988 historical novel about Nigeria, Just Before Dawn (Spectrum Books), was controversial and led Omotoso to leave his native country. After visiting professorships in English at the University of Stirling and the National University of Lesotho and a spell at the Talawa Theatre Company, London, he became a professor of English at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa (1991–2000). From 2001 to 2003 he was a professor in the Drama Department at Stellenbosch University.

He also writes a number of columns in African newspapers, most notably the “Trouble Travels” column in the Nigeria’s Sunday Guardian. From 2013 to 2016, he was a patron of the Etisalat Prize for Literature.

In the mid-1990s and 2010s he appeared as the “Yebo Gogo man” in a number television advertisements for Vodacom mobile phones.

Works

Fiction

The Edifice (1971)
The Combat (1972; Penguin Classics, 2008, ISBN 978-0143185536)
Miracles (short stories) (1973)
Fela’s Choice (1974)
Sacrifice (1974, 1978)
The Scales (1976)
To Borrow a Wandering Leaf (1978)
Memories of Our Recent Boom (1982)
Just Before Dawn (Spectrum Books, 1988, ISBN 9789782460073)

Drama

The Curse (1976)
Shadows in the Horizon (1977)

Non-fiction

The Form of the African Novel (1979 etc.)
The Theatrical Into Theatre: a study of the drama and theatre of the English-speaking Caribbean (1982)
Season of Migration to the South: Africa’s crises reconsidered (1994)
Achebe or Soyinka? A Study in Contrasts (1995)
Woza Africa (1997)

One of the photos of Professor Omotoso’s last moments

Full Statenment from the Family

We are mourning the loss of our father, husband and grandfather Prof. Bankole “Kole” Omotoso, who passed away after a long period of illness, in Johannesburg on July 19, 2023.

Born in Akure, Nigeria in 1943, he pursued his secondary education at King’s College in Lagos. He subsequently graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1969 and was awarded a PhD in Arabic Literature from  the University of Edinburgh and the American University in Cairo in 1972.

He returned to Nigeria together with his wife and our late mother, Marguerita Rice, where he was a lecturer at the University of Ibadan’s Department for Arabic and Islamic studies before taking up a teaching position at the University of Ife’s Drama Department.

During this time three children were born – Akin and Pelayo in Ibadan and Ife and Yewande in Bridgetown, Barbados, Marguerita’s home country, where the family spent a year.

Omotoso’s extensive work, in particular the 1988 publication of Just Before Dawn, often put him in conflict with belligerent powers. From 1989 he was forced to work mostly outside of Nigeria and, in the interest of reuniting the family, in 1992 the Omotosos relocated to Cape Town where Kole Omotoso held professor positions at the English Department of the University of the Western Cape and the Drama Department of the University of Stellenbosch.

Though he left Akure at an early age, his Yoruba heritage greatly influenced his view on the world and his work. A couple of years before his passing, he realised a lifelong dream of building a homestead there, designed by Yewande. Here he was able to live and work with his wife Bukky and her children, Taiwo and Olamiposi, from 2016 until his return to South Africa in 2019 for medical treatment. He kept up a weekly column in the Sunday Guardian, and worked with the Elizade University.

Author, Playwright, Teacher, Critic, Actor, Colleague, Mentor, Friend, Prof. Kole Omotoso lived a life rich with meaning and purpose. A born scholar, he never missed an opportunity to engage in new topics.  An astute socio-political critic, his criticality never got in the way of his belief in humanity.

We will miss him, but find solace knowing that his legacy will continue to live on, through his work, through his three, children Akin, Pelayo and Yewande, through Bukky, Taiwo and Olamiposi, and his grandchildren, Alula, Itai, Paida, Kehinde and Taiye.

 President Tinubu described Prof. Omotoso as a literary giant that was reputed for his commitment and dedication to the socio-political reappraisal of Africa. He equally noted that respect for human dignity was evident in most of the thought-provoking works of the late Professor.

“I’m deeply saddened by the passing of prodigious writer, author and academic, Prof. Kole Omotoso.

“A literary giant best known for his works of fiction and literary criticism, Prof. Omotoso’s books and collections of short stories radiated beyond the shores of Nigeria. Africa was his oasis.

“Most of his works harped on Africa’s renaissance and for the continent to win back her lost glory, much more like what my leadership of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government is focused on doing for Africa, particularly the West Africa sub-region.

“Prof. Omotoso infused his commitment and dedication to socio-political regeneration of Africa and respect for human dignity into most of his literary works and seminal interventions which is why he had such a huge following in Africa and impacted many.

“It is worthy of note that Prof. Omotosho’s background greatly influenced his works. He grew up during the rising tide of radical nationalism and was enamoured by the potential that lay in the future of his country and Africa.

“His fiction ranges widely over the human condition, and the themes include intergenerational and interracial relationships. He particularly became popular for works like ‘Just Before Dawn,” “The Edifice,” “The Combat,” Sacrifice” and “Fela Choice.”

Professor Kole Omotoso, a great patriot, did not live most of his life in South Africa. He went there when he was 51, and was more or less back even before his 70th birthday, except for like the last four to five years of his sickness. In all, he did just a little about two decades in SA. Yes, he attained global recognition and affluence in SA, but cumulatively he lived more years in Nigeria.

“His departure is a loss to Nigeria, Africa and to the literary community.

“I offer my sympathy and condolences to his family, friends, professional colleagues and to Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State for the loss of this illustrious son of Africa. May they all be comforted and may the soul of Prof. Omotoso rest in perfect peace,” President Tinubu said.

Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, also wrote:

“He established himself as a prominent figure within the literary community by demonstrating extraordinary knowledge of various literary genres, showing competency as a playwright and essayist, in addition to his noteworthy achievements as a novelist. His writing abilities are readily apparent in his significant works, such as the books The Edifice, The Combat, and Just Before Dawn, on which I was privileged to have organized a Workshop. Each piece of his work thoroughly analyses the human condition by digging into topics such as personal identity, cultural dynamics, and the intricacies inherent in post-colonial African society.

“Notably, Professor Omotoso’s efforts to promote the transmission of African literature on an international scale played a significant part in increasing his admiration within the greater global literary community. He successfully challenged the prevalent Western-centric perspective on literature through his written works. In doing so, he expanded the intellectual horizons of global readers by demolishing preconceptions connected with Africa and ending misconceptions about the continent. In addition to his role as a professor, he played a substantial and pioneering part in the academic research field of African literature. His contributions have been both significant and groundbreaking. As a result of his extensive understanding of African oral traditions and the merging of those traditions with written literature, he produced powerful works that significantly altered the academic discussion.

Professor Omotoso’s scholarly works and literary compositions delve into the complicated interplay between culture, language, and literature. They illuminate the profound importance of language as a formidable instrument for preserving cultural legacy and articulating individual identity. His analysis in his writings highlighted the intricate interrelationships between literary texts and socio-cultural situations, offering a better understanding of common literary practices in Africa.”