Last week saw the greatest men and women of the nation’s liberal acad­emy gathering to offer their rare decorations to some of their best minds in their various disciplines of let­ters. I share my citations on the three main Fellows and two Honorary ones with my fans, in my capacity as the Public Orator of the Academy as I presented them to the President for decoration, of follows:
PROFESSOR FESTUS ADESANOYE.
First, Festus Agboola Adesanoye. He is a Professor in the Department of Communica­tion and Language Arts, University of Ibadan as a worthy nominee for the Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Letters for the follow­ing reasons.
Adesanoye, who became a Professor in the year 2001, is one of the earliest scholars to have carried out invaluable and notable re­search on varieties of English with a remark­able number of outstanding publications in the discipline. Equally impressive is his cross- disciplinary contribution to knowledge in the related areas of Mass Communication, Eng­lish Language in Nigeria and Development Studies; an engagement which has earned him recognition as a leading African scholar, especially in variety studies. His numerous published books and journal articles provide a benchmark for his department’s aspiration for a communication arts focus as an imperative for teaching and scholarship.
Festus Adesanoye had his university edu­cation at the University of Ibadan, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in English with a Sec­ond Class Honours (Upper Division) in 1969 and a doctorate degree in English Language in 1974. He took a Postgraduate diploma in Communication Policy and Planning for De­velopment from the Institute of Social Studies at The Hague/ University of Nairobi, in 1985.
For his focused scholarship and profound contribution to knowledge in English Lan­guage Arts, book development and mass communication—a rare academic engage­ment at that– he was rewarded with the hon­orary Fellowship of the Association of West African Book Editors as well as being listed as a UNESCO Expert on Book Publishing.
It was this multi-sided, prolific commu­nicologist and versatile scholar of variety studies, Professor Adesanoye, that I invite the President to admit as a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.
Professor Adedotun Ogundeji.
Next is Professor Philip Adedotun Ogundeji whom we presented as a deserving candidate for admission into the College of Fellows. Adedotun Ogundeji has been a Professor of Yoruba Studies, with specialisation in Yoruba drama and theatre at the University of Ibadan, since 1997.
Ogundeji obtained all his academic qualifi­cations from the University of Ibadan, where he has sojourned, both as a student and as an academic, for thirty-eight years. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in Yo­ruba with a Second Class honours (Upper Division) in 1979, Master of Arts in Yoruba in 1981 and Ph.D. Yoruba in 1988. For his professional career, he rose through the ranks from a mere Teaching Assistant in 1976 to a Professor in 1997 and has kept his Chair at the University of Ibadan to date.
His main contribution to Yoruba drama, theatre and performance is through his rigor­ous mediation of ritual and folkloric perfor­mance aesthetics, deploying the folk/operatic theatres of Duro Ladipo, Kola Ogunmola and Oyin Adejobi to establish evaluatve criteria for indigenous Yoruba theatre and perfor­mance and extending that critical dramatic yardstick to the more contemporary Yoruba drama of Akinwumi Isola and Afolabi Ola­bintan, among others.
It is this Yoruba theatre aesthete and theo­rist, who has further established the total­ist/composite nature of indigenous Yoruba drama; this notable prolific scholar and re­searcher, Professor Adedotun Ogundeji, that I present to you as a worthy recipient of the Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Let­ters.
Professor Olabiyi Yai.
The third presented candidate for the award is a 1983 Professor of African Languages; an Ambassador of the Republic of Benin to UNESCO; a Chairman of the Executive Board of UNESCO, His Excellency, Profes­sor Olabiyi Yai. Olabiyi Yai is educated in the traditional African and Western education set­tings. The former was under the tutelage of the elders of Ile Sabee. He obtained his Bac­calaureate in 1960 (Porto-Novo) From the University of Sorbonne, Paris. He took the Baccalaureate Lettres and Licence es Lettres 1964. He obtained the Postgraduate Diploma in Linguistics from the University of Ibadan in 1969. A man of universal academic expo­sure, Professor Yai has taught at the Universi­ties of Dahomey, Ibadan, Ife, Florida, Bahia, Brazil Birmingham and Kokugakuin, Tokyo.
Yai’s research interests and engagements range from literature, Linguistic, Culture, Re­ligion, traditional African beliefs and philoso­phy to the domain of bridge-building across languages, vast geography, and the literature of Anglophone and Francophone varieties. A veritable and versatile polyglot, Professor Yai is intelligible in French, Fon, English, Span­ish, Yoruba, and Portuguese and he has pub­lished sound and insightful works in most of these languages.
In his meritorious service in the UNESCO service as Ambassador and Chairman of the Board, Professor Yai has brought great pride to Africa, fore-fronting issues that are critical to Education and language policy in Africa. As a literary and stylistics scholar, he has brought great enlightenment to bear from his vast knowledge of Benin, Togo, Braha and Cuba.
Professor Yai is a versatile linguist and polyglot; a seasoned and invaluable diplomat, inimitable cultural ambassador, bridge-build­er and global intellectual, P
Two Honorary Fellows were produced. They are eminent Nigerians who have dis­tinguished themselves in their works of life, having made contribution to the Humanities, along the line, as follows.
Olori (Dr) Olatokunbo Olatomi Gbadebo.
First is Olori Olatokunbo Gbadebo. She was presented as a richly deserving candidate for the award of Honourary Fellowship of the College of Fellows with the following justi­fications. She is a woman of matriarchal and professional virtue and values, with impres­sive records of achievements.
Born into Joseph Folayan Odunjo family, former Headmaster and the famous author of the Alawiye series of Yoruba text books for primary schools, Olori Gbadebo is married to His Royal Highness, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, Okukeru IV, Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland.
She bagged her Bachelor of Arts Degree with a First Class Honours in French under the supervision of the foremost African liter­ary scholar, Professor Abiola Irele. She ob­tained the Master’s Degree, Maîtres es Lettres from the University of Paris in 1975 and her Doctor of Philosophy in in French at the Uni­versity of Ibadan in 1978.
Dr. Olatokunbo Gbadebo is a scholar, publisher, shrewd and enterprising business entrepreneur and matriarch of the pan-Egba royalty, with a chequered professional pro­file. A foundation student of the International School of the University of Ibadan where she received her General Certificate of Education (O/L), Olori Gbadebo was educated in vari­ous institutions at home and abroad receiving numerous diplomas and degrees.
Olori Gbadebo began her highly varied work experience as a teacher of French and English at the Cherubim and Seraphim Col­lege Ilorin, moving on from there to become an Examination Officer, Publisher (with Longman) and became the first female Execu­tive Director of the Publishing Department in 1985. She left the company a year after to set up her own business in travel agency, found­ing the First Dolphin Travels in Lagos and again became the first Managing Director of the company.
Her academic brilliance and professional expertise brought to her awards and distinc­tions, including the Postgraduate Research Scholarship of the University of Ibdan in 1971 and membership of the Advisory Board of the Faculty of Arts at the Olabisi Onaban­jo University. She was Secretary of the J.F. Odunjo Memorial Lectures, 1983-2004. She is Olori of Egbaland and matron of several traditional and chieftaincy institutions and the Iyalode of Ibarapa, comprising twelve town­ships in Abeokuta.
Olori Gbadebo is an exceptionally brilliant and versatile woman of virtue and honour, matriarch, distinguished publisher and busi­ness entrepreneur and graceful royal mother.
Ambassador Dr. Dapo Fafowora.
Finally, His Excellency, Ambassador Ol­adapo Olusola Fafowora, a distinguished and seasoned diplomat, public servant, candid social analyst, consistent newspaper colum­nist and public intellectual was presented as a prime candidate for the Honorary Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Letters.
Ambassador Fafowora attended the famous C.M.S Grammar School, Lagos (1954=58), The Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology , Ibadan (1959-61) where he obtained his 3 A Levels, and the University College Ibadan (1961-64) where he obtained BA (Hons) London in History. In 1966-67, he attended the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London where he obtained MA (London), with distinction. He took his D. Phil from Trinity College, Uni­versity of Oxford in 1972.
Ambassador Fafowora had a distinguished career in the Foreign Service, rising from an Assistant Secretary in the International De­partment in 1964 to an Ambassador in Turkey with concurrent accreditation to Iran in 1975. He served in the Cabinet Office, Lagos, as Head of the Political Department and Secre­tary of the Foreign Policy Advisory Council, a veritable Think-Tank for the foreign Min­istry of Foreign Service. He was appointed Director of Africa Department in the Ministry in 1979 and later, in 1981, he was appointed as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Rep­resentative of Nigeria in the United Nations. As a result of his sterling and distinct perfor­mance, he was elected to chair several com­mittees of the United Nations, including The United Nations Peace Keeping Operations, the Commission on Human Rights, the OAU Group among others. Further recognition of Ambassador Fafowora’s distinguished per­formance was his appointment to represent Nigeria in the Contact Group on negotiations for the independence of Namibia. He was also alternate Nigerian delegate at the UN Security Council, presiding at the UN General Assem­bly Session in 1982. Outside of diplomatic engagements, Ambassador served Nigeria in other capacities including the membership of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos (1986-91), the Political Reform Con­ference (2005), the Technical Committee of Vision 2020, Board of the Central Bank of Nigeria, among numerous high profile ap­pointments in the service of the nation—all of which he served meritoriously and creditably.
In spite of this intimidating profile of en­gagements, Dr. Fafowora has made tremen­dous contributions to knowledge, having pub­lished many important books and numerous articles in national and international journals.
Ambssador Fafowora was awarded the Honorary Fellowship as distinguished diplo­mat, seasoned administrator, public intellec­tual and prolific writer and social commenta­tor.

New Fellows for the Letters Academy