It has been over six days of trying to accept the fact that we will no longer see our Prof Lai Oso again, and it is a very difficult decision to put pen on paper and write about him, expecially in past tenses, but I must! Not only because he was my supervisor, but the fact that I count myself very lucky and fortunate to have come in contact with him! And I can tell you that it was a great honour, which I will continue to thank the Almighty for. I just wish I was given more years with him, but who are we to question the Almighty Allah!
Not that I have not met many good academicians especially on this my long academic journey which started from the Polytechnic Ibadan (Eruwa Campus) to the main campus in Ibadan, and then to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria (twice, for two degrees), to Crescent University Abeokuta and finally rounding it up at the Lagos State University, Ojo. It was a long journey, and I have indeed had the privilege of coming across many lecturers and supervisors, but sincerely and with all honesty, Professor Lai Oso stood out! He was one in a million! He was God’s sent!
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Lai Oso’s Death, A Big Hole In Media, Academic, and Journalism Circles, By Dapo Olorunyomi, CJID
Lai Oso: We Lost A Mentor to Many Successful Public Relations Practitioners In Nigeria, By NIPR
Goodbye An Unrepentant Progressive, By Adepoju Tejumaye
A Methodical Communications Statesman, By Olanrewaju Fagbohun, And Olatunji-Bello
Professor Lai Oso that I know:
Prior to the commencement of my Ph.D. programme at Lagos State University, I have had the opportunity to hear so much about this special being from friends and coursemates. I recall he used to visit Ahmadu Bello University occasionally as an external examiner but I never had one-on-one contact with him until early 2019 when I met him as one of our lecturers at Lagos State University, (School of Communication studies then). When it was time for us to choose our supervisors, I went to meet him in his office and told him I wanted him to be my supervisor, he asked me why, and I answered him, because my thesis focus is on an aspect of Development Communication (which i know was his speciality), he told me there are other senior lecturers that are also into that, but I insisted, he explained he already have many supervisees on his hand, but I stood my ground, and Prof eventually agreed! That was how I was fortunate to join his long list of products! From day one, Prof. made my life as his supervisee easy! He set a deadline for us (myself and my sister, Khadijat Adedeji-Olona my twin sister according to some…smiles) and Prof did everything within his power to make sure we meet up with the deadline, and we did! It was Prof., who gave us December 2022 as the deadline. Prof would call to remind us of the deadline. If Prof did not hear from me for some weeks, he would call to find out what was happening and why I have not brought my work! He would remind me, ‘You know you and khadijah must finish by December 2022? It was as if he had a premonition of his death, as if he knew he was going to leave very soon and not return.
Prof. gave us the necessary support and encouragement to be able to deliver a good thesis. Anytime I got stuck along the way at any point, all I had to do was to give Prof a call, and he would sort me out! He would offer suggestions, advice, and words of encouragement. If Prof missed my calls, I would rest assured that he would call back or even send a message immediately to explain why he couldn’t pick up the call at that time. That’s Prof. for you. So considerate!
He was always concerned about my welfare particularly my frequent plying of the old Abeokuta-Lagos road (considering the poor state of the road, some days i don’t get home till almost 12 midnight) to the extent that Prof suggested that instead of having to come all the way from Abeokuta just to drop my work for him, or just to pick it up, i should be sending a soft copy to be printed and submitted to Dr. Hassan who would help give it to him, and when Prof is done, he would drop it with Dr. Hassan again who would pass it to Dr. Taiwo Thanny from whom I would collect it in Abeokuta. So, I only needed to travel when it is time to meet Prof or my co-supervisor one-on-one or i have any other assignments. In fact there was a day Prof was rounding up with me in his office and our Dean and some other senior lecturers came in to see Prof, Prof pleaded with them to allow him finish with me so that I can quickly leave for Abeokuta as he wouldn’t want me to travel on that road at night, his words; ‘Please give me few minutes let me quickly finish with Alhaja so she can leave for Abeokuta’, and they all (so considerate) patiently waited for us till we finished!
So unassumming! Professor Oso’s humility is something else! The way he related with us? Especially considering his status! Am just happy God gave me the opportunity to meet him! There was a day I dodged Prof from given me a ride (because his car was already full), they were two at the back seat already and I was like are we going to squeeze this man and inconvinient him again? No! So before he could come down the stairs from his office, I left to enter the bus outside the gate. You wouldnt believe it, Prof chased me with calls and his car (he told me on the phone, ‘you mean we will not see until next year?) and they caught up with me, he asked me to come down and join them at the back seat (with him making three of us at the back) and his words, ‘se o wa ti joko le mi lori bayi? Meaning: Are u now sitting on me?
The professor’s office was our office, and his toilet was our toilet!In fact, his office was our Masjid at times when we didn’t want to go downstairs to pray. You could hardly find Prof sitting on his official seat in his office! We all sit together!There was a day there were no more empty seat when I entered the office and Prof was sitting on the single settee in the office, Prof moved for me and asked me to come and manage on the settee arm! I recall one of our professors present that day jokingly said ‘Ha Prof, Sharia ma wa’, and we all laughed! I can go on and on and on! Honestly and painfully, we have lost a gem! Prof would always ask after my husband and children. He would say, ‘Anytime I see women progressing, I always appreciate their husbands. We should greet them! That is Prof!
The last time I saw Prof was early this month at the wedding of one of our friends and coursemates, Yusuf Temitope Khadijah, in Lagos. We took many pictures together, and as usual, Prof gave us a lift and dropped me at Egbeda. While in the car with him (we sat together at the back seat) Prof said ‘Alhaja your house is our next venue for weddings o, odo e lokan, I know my girls are growing into young ladies’ I never knew that was our last meeting. And last week Thursday on our convocation day, Prof. called us, myself, and my sister Dr. Khadijat Adedeji-Olona, as he couldn’t make it to the programme, he greeted us and wished us well. I told him on the phone ‘Prof today that I brought my mum to see you, you are not around’, he asked me to give the phone to her but unfortunately at that moment I was not close to her, so i told Prof I would call when I get to where my mum was seated. That was my last conversation with him.
Like one of my brothers (Adeola Yusuf) described his exit ‘a library set ablaze’, and as one of my senior lecturers Folarin Jamiu put it,’Professor Oso is not dead! Yes, Prof is not dead. Prof. lives on in us, and his legacies will continue to live on. He has impacted positively on many lives. It is my prayer that the Almighty God gives our Mummy Oso, the children, the entire family, the academic world, and the communication community, in particular, the fortitude to bear this huge and irreplaceable loss! Adieu, our Prof!
Oluwatoyin Shakirat Salami Ph.D writes from Abeokuta
