By Sonnie Ekwowusi
Professor Emevwo Biakolo, scholar in Classics, poet, writer, former lecturer at the University of Ibadan and Founding Dean, School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lekki, Lagos, is dead. Prof. Biakolo died in his sleep yesterday.
Prof. Biakolo was an exceptional man of letters. He was a member of the Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspaper and a Columnist of the same newspaper during the Abacha dictatorial military rule and, I think, during the dying days of the Babaginda military rule. He strove in his weekly Column to remind the military overlords that a dictatorship that scuttles the rule of law cannot lead to human flourishing.
A public intellectual of repute, Prof.Biakolo was my friend. On several occasions Prof Biakolo and I collaborated in some projects to promote the culture of life.
Gentle, amiable, soft-spoken and respectful, Prof Biakolo was an exceptional academic. In what could be dubbed as a self-exile, Prof Biakolo went to Botswana for a certain period to continue to lecture in a Botswana University. He returned to Nigeria after his sojourn in Botswana to continue to contribute to the improvement of human development in Nigeria.
May God grant his soul a perfect rest
