Life is in constant motion. It is marked by time which in Rosicrucian philosophy is defined as duration of consciousness. True it is that, it waits for no one.True it is that, it exists for everything. What changeth not with time? Nothing. In life we must live for something if we want something to outlive us.Service is the purpose of life: service to God and humanity. Service comes in different forms.Work of charity is one. Others consist in man’s vocations, occupations and professions.Among all these are noble ones.The teaching profession falls into this category.As a noble calling, a teacher should be an embodiment of morality; and a beaming light of work ethics. But in contemporary world, teaching has been perverted and so are teachers. Yet some teachers are pure,sane and dedicated.
In the course of my tertiary education, I have had the privilege of being taught by teachers of repute.For example, at University of Ilorin, in my undergraduate days, I passed through the intellectual furnace of Professor Adeoye Akinsanya whose intellectual urbanity transformed my academic fortune and career for good; and also late Professor Arthur E.Davis whose excellent teaching rather than his stingy marks in my transcript, pushed me to the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife for a second degree in international relations. At Ife, I had the privilege of being academically pounded in the extraordinary “brain mortar ” of late Professor Olajide Aluko who also supervised my project work; and also the energetic and morally distinct Professor Tale Omole,from whom I inherited the use of the word ,”desiderata” and the expression, “let it be said…”
At the Ekiti State University where I sought to attain my childhood dream of bearing the title, “Dr”, my path crossed those of Professor Akinsola Agagu who compounded my simplicity and humility and Professor Dipo Kolawole whose academic prowess and exemplary life as a teacher I wish to celebrate here following his impending retirement from Ekiti State University. More specifically,our paths crossed in 2001.He had just returned to the Department of Political Science from a national assignment. Upon return, the headship of the department fell on him .I had just done a Semester as a doctoral student in the department. Upon his assumption of office, the department felt that a new order was desirable for the doctoral program in the interest of the students and the reputation of the department and the University. At the end of the exercise, the department resolved to apply a break to the program for one or two sessions. I considered this inconvenient and thus put up some pressure for possible reversal. However, Dipo Kolawole called me aside and offered me the counsel of patience and perseverance. I heeded. In the fullness of the time of the restoration of the programme, Professor Kolawole not only offered to supervise me, but also assisted in framing my doctoral research topic, thoroughly vetted my organization of the study and eventually handed me over to Professor Agagu for further supervision when he became Deputy Vice-chancellor and got busier. That I graduated in good time as the first P.hD product of the department I have always credited to the duo. I cannot but therefore, celebrate Professor Kolawole for this tutelage as he retires from Ekiti state University. As my teacher , DK as people fondly call him, is a fascinating teacher. His intellectual fecundity I found palpably evident. In his teaching, he blends theory and practice in equal measure. He does not belong to the class of the academics which the military described as those teaching what they are not being paid to teach. In other words, he is not a radical Marxist or leftist. Neither is he a conservative. Both tendencies have their value though. He is indeed a pragmatic intellectual. Little wonder,he has been in and out of government at different levels, discharging whatever responsibilities that were given to him diligently. In political science class, I found Dk a brilliant teacher who craves for quality work from his students at all times. In seminar sessions, he would never take it from us that an error was typographical. “It is your unpardonable error”, he would say. His style of using harsh words to criticize our papers and deploying exaggerated condemnation of what we considered as minor errors was always putting us on our toes in preparing seminar papers. He is a firm teacher. Very kindhearted. In one breadth, he would take your paper to the cleaner; in micro seconds afterwards, he begins to relate with you as if nothing had happened. He is a humble being. His gracing of the funeral ceremony of my late father shall remain evergreen in my memory. No doubt, Dk has touched many lives positively. He seems to have taken a cue from the wise counsel of Hilary Clinton:” do all good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as you can. “Dk like the rest of us is not perfect. Just as he has strengths, he certainly has his weaknesses. Socrates captured this duality of man aptly when he wrote graphically,” there are not too many good or bad people, majority of us are between the two. I cannot forget that Professor Dipo Kolawole is a jovial teacher when he is on the lighter note or waves. He abhors dull moment and mood. He throws jokes and banters in rib-cracking manner, at times in Efon variety of Ekiti dialect. I recall here one day in his class, while writing on the chalkboard, perhaps he suspected that some of us were trying to make mockery of his handwriting which to him is not good enough.He just said,: ” don’t mind my handwriting, I write like a drunkard “.Yet his handwriting is better than mine. Although you are retiring from EKSU,however, your physical, administrative and intellectual feats shall remain indelible. On EKSU land your aura cannot wane. As you take a bow from EKSU, please accept this piece as my toast to you on your retirement. Friends, kindly join me in celebrating and congratulating Professor Kolawole on his retirement. Congratulations sir.

By Ademola Adebisi