The Minister of State for Works, Prince Adedayo Adeyeye, has described the death of eminent historian, Prof. J.F. Ade-Ajayi, as a great loss to Ekiti State and Nigeria as a whole.
Adeyeye said: “Again, Nigeria lost one of the torch-bearers of its academic’s finest moment.”
Adeyeye said the deceased will be sorely missed having blazed the trail in establishing the authority of African history as an academic discipline.
He said: “No doubt, we have yet lost another important player in the pre and post-independence historians that gave credence to the existence of Africa history as pre-dating the white men invasion of the continent.
“Prof Ade-Ajayi was an outstanding scholar, who as one of the foundation students of University of Ibadan, then known as University College, also impacted knowledge on many people as a teacher in the university.
“If one puts in perspective the quality of life that he lived, especially his contribution to education in Nigeria, there is every cause for us to celebrate a man with virtues plated in superlatives.
“The irony of life however, is that no matter how long and fulfilled they lived, we do not ever wish to lose our loved ones. I therefore implore the family, especially my in-laws in Ikole-Ekiti and the entire people of the State to take solace in the fact that Papa’s life was a model, a brand that symbolised excellence, honesty and hard-work.”