The inevitable end of all mortals "death" came on Friday August 18, 2000 and snatched away the Nigerian renowned playwright and university don Professor Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi eminent dramatist and University teacher at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
The author of the popular play The Gods Are Not to Blame was born on April 13, 1939 in Sapele. His father was a Yoruba from Ilesa, while his mother an Ijaw from the Niger Delta.
Ola Rotimi was well known throughout Nigeria and abroad.
He married a white woman, Hazel Mac Guadreau in 1965. Sadly Hazel his wife died in May, only a couple of months before Ola Rotimi's exit from the planet Earth.
Olawale Gladstone Emmanuel Rotimi removed our history from the pages of books written by the coloniser, fused it with oral history and made it part of our lives.
Professor Rotimi attended:
- St. Cyprians School in Port Harcourt from 1945-49
- St Jude's School Lagos between 1951-52 and
- Methodist Boys High School Lagos.
Professor Ola Rotimi also attended Boston University in the United State of America where he studied Theatre Arts.
His maiden play while in school was titled To satire the God of Iron.
The dimunitive professor's creative skills paid off in 1968 with the production of his adaptation of Sophocles' tragic play Oedipus Rex.
Ola Rotimi's other plays and books include the very popular "The Gods are Not to Blame, with over half a dozen other plays. Some of these include:
- Kurunmi (1969)
- Ovoramwen Nogbaisi (1971)
- if..... (1979)
- cast the first stone (1966)
- Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again (1977)
- Holding Talks (1970)
- Hopes of the Living Dead (1985)
- When the Criminals Become Judges (1995) and
- Man Talk, Woman Talk which is the most recent among others.
Ola Rotimi a patriot, who shunned the attraction of the West and Europe and returned home to contribute his own quota to nation building, was a rare breed. Diminitive in size but a giant in drama in Africa, he was one of the best things that could have happened to the literary community.
So unfortunate, that his dream of directing a play of 5000 cast members did not materialise before he slept to wake up no more.
Professor Rotimi, Odabo, Adieu, Bon Voyage
May his gentle soul rest in peace. Amen.
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