Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has mourned the demise of award-winning Author, the late Professor Kole Omotoso
He expressed sadness over the passing of the celebrated writer saying; “His demise is a big loss to Nigeria, Africa and the literary world.”
The President described the late Omotoso as a literary giant that is reputed for his 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.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed sadness over the passing of celebrated writer, author and literary scholar, Professor Kole Omotoso, saying his demise is a big loss to Nigeria, Africa and the literary world.
Prof. Omotoso died in Johannesburg, South Africa on Wednesday… pic.twitter.com/6qhNy5DCka
— Daddy D.O🇳🇬 (@DOlusegun) July 20, 2023
The late Prof. Omotoso died in Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 at the age of 80.
Background
Born in Akure, Ondo State, on April 21, 1943, the late Professor attended King’s College, Lagos, the University of Ibadan and the University of Edinburgh.
Famous for his famous 1988 novel which documents evolution of Nigeria as a country, Just Before Dawn, Omotoso left Nigeria at a point for visiting professorships in English at the University of Stirling, National University of Lesotho and later the University of the Western Cape, South Africa, where he was between 1991 and 2000. He also served as a professor at the Drama Department of the Stellenbosch University from 2001 to 2003.
The late Nigerian novelist, playwright, and critic who wrote from a Yoruba perspective and coupled the folklore he learned as a child with his adult studies in Arabic and English.
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 novels include The Edifice (1971), The Combat (1972), Fella’s Choice and Sacrifice (both 1974), The Scales (1976), To Borrow a Wandering Leaf (1978), and Just Before Dawn (1988); his plays The Curse (1976) and Shadows in the Horizon (1977); and his single volume of short stories Miracles and Other Stories (1973; rev. ed. 1978). From the 1980s, Omotoso took an increasingly public role as an African intellectual; among the many works of nonfiction he contributed are The Form of the African Novel (1979, reprinted 1986), Season of Migration to the South: Africa’s Crises Reconsidered (1994), and Woza Africa (1997; Come on, Africa!: Music Goes to War)
Additional Research/Britannica/PIAK
