BusinessDay 04 Feb 2018

Sunday 04 February 2018
C002D5556
BD SUNDAY 33
NewsmakersOfYesteryears
Saburi Biobaku: Unilag’s VC who was stabbed by
a student who disagreed with his choice as VC
SIAKA MOMOH
Brilliant academic
Professor Saburi Biobaku
was a brilliant
academic. He had
the best of education
from the best schools
in Nigeria and outside the
shores of Nigeria. And he had
scholarships galore all through.
According to the erudite
scholar in an interview we
had with him in 1985, during
my stint with Vanguard, “I
studied on scholarship in Government
College Ibadan between
1932 and 1937, and also
on scholarship at Yaba Higher
College where I read English
and History between 1938 and
1940, and was awarded Higher
College Teaching Diploma (the
highest teaching qualification
in Nigeria then).”
Similarly, he was on scholarship
at University College
Exeter between 1944 and
1945(after obtaining the intermediate
bachelor’s degree in
1942 as a private student), and
Cambridge University (1945-
1947) where he had his B.A.
Honours degree in History and
English. Finally, “I availed myself
of government facilities for
study leave with pay to do my
M.A. and PhD in History at the
University of London between
1950 and 1951,” he said.
Unilag crisis
Fine academic records, you
would agree, but things became
awry for him at the peak
of his academic career at the
University of Lagos. In 1965,
he was appointed as the Vice
Chancellor of the University
of Lagos amidst allegations of
ethnic favoritism in his choice
as vice chancellor. He was
stabbed by Kayode Adams, a
student radical who believed
Biobaku appointment was unfair
and ethnically motivated.
According to Professor Ben
Nwanbueze, “I was one of
the first lecturers appointed
in UNILAG. I was teaching
in London, and I had to come
down with Professor Gawa,
my Dean in London School of
Economics, to open the Law
Faculty in the University of
Lagos in 1962. Three years
after, in 1965, there was a crisis
over the appointment of
the vice chancellor. Professor
Eni Njoku was the pioneer
vice chancellor, and there was
trouble between Igbo and the
Yoruba and he was dropped for
Professor Sabiru Biobaku, and
there was a crisis. The students
would not have it. I happened
to be a leader of the staff in
support of Eni Njoku, on principle.
This man had done first
class work. Why do you want
to drop him after three years
Saburi-Biobaku
purely on tribal grounds? And
there was a crisis.”
Counter accusation
Meanwhile, the group of
teaching staff in support of
Professor Saburi Biobaku accused
Professor Eni Njoku and
his group of tribalism in the
running of the affairs of the
university. Njoku resigned and
became a visiting professor
at Michigan State University,
United States. In 1966, Njoku
was appointed vice-chancellor
of the University of Nigeria,
“If my father had lived longer,
and if he had his way, he
would have made sure I became
a lawyer. He had a number
of lawyer friends whom
he admired and whom would
have helped make me one”
Nsukka where he remained
until the outbreak of the civil
war in 1967.
Ben Nwanbueze’s ordeal
Nwanbueze was charged
to Igbosere Magistrate Court
and convicted because one of
the lecturers in the university
said Nwanbueze hit him on
the head with a chair. He was
however released on appeal by
Justice JSC Taylor, Chief Judge
of Lagos. When General Ironsi
took over, he sacked the magistrate
who convicted Nwanbueze.
All these preceded the
Nigerian civil war.
Biobaku was Nigerian scholar,
historian and politician,
who lived between 1918 and
2001, who was among a set
of Yoruba historians who followed
the pioneering effort of
Samuel Johnson in setting the
foundations of Yoruba historiography
and creating reference
notes of indigenous African
historical literature. Apart from
being Vice Chancellor of the
University of Lagos, he also
served as a pro-chancellor of the
Obafemi Awolowo University.
He revealed at the interview in
question, “If my father had lived
longer, and if he had his way, he
would have made sure I became
a lawyer. He had a number of
lawyer friends whom he admired
and whom would have
helped make me one”.
Biobaku was born in Igbore,
Abeokuta to the family of a
prominent Muslim chief and
wealthy transporter, Sanni
Oloyede Biobaku. On his return
to Nigeria, he started his career
teaching; he worked as a school
master in his former school at
Government College, Ibadan.
He later became the secretary
to the premier of the Western
Region, Nigeria. Prior to becoming
the Premier’s secretary, he
was taught by him early on
in his primary school days at
Abeokuta. Biobaku also served
as a registrar of the University
of Ibadan.
His father died at 45 when
little Saburi was only 13; so he
grew up under his grandparents.
His grandfather, who was
the Giwa of Igbore Abeokuta,
inspired him most. He was his
favourite grandson. Said he; “I
sat in his horse with him when
he visited the Alake of Egbaland
Oba Ladapo Ademola II. I
sat beside him while he adjudicated.
I was thus exposed to
happenings, to the history of my
people. This kindled my interest
in history.”
Later career
According to historical records,
in 1957, Professor Biobaku
wrote a book on his ethnic
group, the Egba’s. The book
was titled: ‘The Egba’s and their
Neighbours’. It was originally
written as a dissertation but
later turned into a 99-page text.
He focused on the position of
Egba’s within historical contexts
and factors that effected
change in Yorubaland. The book
also contained information on
Egbaland during the coming of
the Christian missionaries in the
nineteenth century. At the time,
the book was the second Nigerian
authored historical study
published by the Oxford University
Press, after Kenneth Dike’s,
Trade and Politics in the Niger
Delta. He later wrote ‘Sources
of Yoruba History’, published
in 1973, and a few other books.
Politics
In the early years of Nigeria’s
independence, while serving in
the administration of Awolowo,
he advocated an optimistic
but cautious approach to Pan-
Africanism, believing that the
freedom the country fought for
and gained with independence
should be used early on by the
government and many others
to nurture the individual African
personalities that reside
the within country especially
in matters affecting health,
literacy and eliminating poverty.
However, he supported
the promotion of regional organizations
for economic and
social aims and the view of
Pan Africanism as described
by Anthony Enahoro, that it is
a consummation devoutly to
be wished.
In his later years, he was involved
in moves to promote Yoruba
unity, especially after the
demise of General Sani Abacha.
He also sought a re-appraisal of
the country’s political structure,
favouring a four tier system of
governance, made up of federal,
regional, state and local administrations.
He also served as the chairman
of the Nigerian National
Antiques Commission, Nigerian
Textile Mills and the editorial
board of Encyclopedia Africana.