Renowned public intellectual, literary critic and essayist, Prof. Biodun Jeyifo,  died on Wednesday aged 80.

The revered scholar, who was a former national president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, passed on in Ibadan, Oyo State. He was born on January 5, 1946. 

The late literary giant popularly called BJ by his associates and students was hosted on January 5, 2026, by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) in celebration of his 80th birthday with a crowd-pulling symposium. 

The symposium titled, “Pedagogy, Curriculum and Decolonisation: Then and Now,” held at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos, and drew activists, ex-students, scholars and literary icons such as Prof. Wole Soyinka, Kunle Ajibade, Dapo Olorunyomi, Dr Ogaga Ifowodo, Sam Omatseye, Prof. Priyamvada Gopal, Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, and Dr Bisi Anyadike among others. 

The event celebrated Jeyifo’s life, intellectual engagements and engaging scholarships on African literature.

The late Jeyifo earned first class in English at the University of Ibadan in 1970 and strengthened it with a master’s in 1973 before proceeding to the New York University in 1970 for a doctoral degree.

He was also holder of DLitt (honoris causa) from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University),; an institution that witnessed his teaching fervour for many years. 

The late Jeyifo was to later teach at the Cornell University and Harvard University. He was until his death a professor emeritus of African and African American Studies and Comparative Literature at Harvard University.

In a public tribute to the deceased, a documentarist and archivist, Wachanga Ndirangu, stated that Jeyifo had rested. 

He noted that though he was one of the towering figures in Africa’s culture of letters, the late Jeyifo was unfailingly generous to him.

Mr Ndirangu  stated, “He gave stimulating interviews on Ngugi, Micere, Soyinka, and contributed a chapter on Micere in a volume I edited to celebrate her 80th birthday. In 2014, at a conference organised by Micere Mugo at Syracuse university to mark the 50th anniversary of Achebe’s “Arrow of God,” we sat together for hours. 

“He reflected on how we deify certain people who are extraordinarily gifted; those who have so much to give that they seem to be like a force of nature. When such people become ancestors, we elevate them to the realm of gods, deities, and divinities. It is not altogether different from canonization into sainthood in Roman Catholicism, or is it? But he then asked why there are so many gods in West African literature and not in East African literature.

“He compared Soyinka’s Ogun to Ngugi and Micere’s ‘Dedan Kimathi’; Achebe’s Ulu to Ebrahim Hussein’s Kinjeketile; and Christopher Okigbo’s ‘Idoto” to Okot p’Bitek’s ‘Lawino.’ It is not surprising that Soyinka brought Ogun and Chaka together in his tour de force anti-apartheid poem, “Ogun Abibiman.”

“Then he reminded me: You don’t need gods, deities and divinities for revolution. You need extraordinarily gifted, generous, and inspiring human beings. At ALA in Columbus, Ohio, in 2019, I sat with him and his former student, Tejumola Olaniyan. Teju picked my camera and took what would become my last picture with Prof. Jeyifo. Teju died later that year. Prof. Biodun Jeyifo, his teacher and mentor, has joined him. Travel well, Mwalimu, rest well.”

Also, US-based lecturer, Prof. Adeleke Adeeko, stated ” There was no other like him.”

Lawyer, poet and scholar, Ogaga Ifowodo mourned Jeyifo in a piece titled, “Adieu Prof. Biodun “BJ” Jeyifo, 1946-2026.”

He said, “A mere month and five days ago, a stimulating public lecture to mark his 80th birthday, given by a former student of his at Cornell now at Cambridge University, Prof Priya Gopal, followed by a hearty dinner at which Professor Wole Soyinka, his former teacher at the University of Ibadan, was the guest of honour, took place in Lagos. Today, news came that BJ had at last lost his long battle against renal failure. 

“At the public lecture, his life-long friend, Dr Yemi Ogunbiyi, had said that BJ was not expected to survive his childhood, having been born with with a genetic condition that snatched his brother literally from the crib, never mind celebrating his eight decade on earth. BJ’s was such an achieved life, his legacy as a radical scholar, activist and humanist so firmly established that we can only mourn for a moment and then take consolation in the memories of his many good deeds. 

“Simply put, he gave a glowing account of every of the 80 years allotted to him. I’m further comforted that the last major event he participated in was one that fused the private and the public in fitting tribute to his life dedicated to knowledge in service of humanity. Adieu, sir! Our world was a little better, a little more livable, because you were in it. May your kind come our way more often.”

In his tribute, arts enthusiast, activist and actor, Ropo Ewenla, said “Travel well BJ. O di gbere! There goes the first official national president of ASUU. A thoroughbred scholar and gentleman.”