Samuel Ayodele Olukotun was descended from a long line of distinguished teachers who lived in the backwaters of Okun land and whose progenitor was probably born in the wake of the 18th century.
The line was predominantly Egbe Yoruba. The family settled in a picturesquely sited village of a few hundred inhabitants some 150 kilometres south-west of Kabba. Okun leading citizens were always oriented outwards first, towards Kaduna the then capital of Northern Region of Nigeria and other leading towns of the Region; and then to Lagos or other South-west towns and cities.
At Ife, where Ayo sauntered through many courses and thereby honed his art, he was unmatched for ease of delivery and flow of words even as he stammered in a staccato of adumbrated explanations. Olukotun shunned the style or devices of the prepared or studied speaker. He sustained his main point as soon as he reached it through force of conviction and an uncanny power of rhetoric.
Unlike most of his classmates, Olukotun did not fall into the regular pattern of studentship. Ordinarily, he spared an infinitesimal part of his time studying his course work. But his academic routine was gruelling such that he refused to join the social clubs or the burgeoning cocktail circuits camaraderie even as a nominal member.
As President of the University of Ife Students Union, Olukotun revealed himself as a mild reformer on some matters and a staunch ideologue on others. He presented a petition for the reform of the campus press to allow freedom to investigate and publish reports of inquiries into departments and extra-departmental units of the University. More indicative of Olukotun’s real concern was his attitude towards appropriations respecting capitation fee.
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