Professor E. A. Ayandele: 20th century champion of Nigeria’s history (1)

Professor Emmanuel Ayankanmi Ayandele (1928–2000), one of Nigeria’s most incisive 20th-century historians, occupies a unique position in African intellectual history. He stands as one of Nigeria’s most consequential scholar-critics, whose work reshaped historical scholarship, challenged post-colonial elitism, and redefined the role of academia in national development.

A scholar who combined rigorous academic analysis with unflinching social critique, Ayandele’s work transcended the ivory tower to interrogate the soul of Nigeria’s post-colonial leadership. His contributions and enduring critiques remain vital to understanding Nigeria’s socio-political trajectory.

His career at the University of Ibadan, where he taught from the 1960s until his retirement, coincided with Nigeria’s perhaps most turbulent decades, a period during which his scholarship became both mirror and scalpel for the nation’s elite class.

Born in 1928 in what is now Ekiti State, Ayandele’s early education at Anglican Mission schools immersed him in the very system he would later critique. This formative experience of excelling in Western curricula while witnessing the erosion of Indigenous knowledge shaped his lifelong preoccupation with cultural dislocation.

After studying history at the University College Ibadan (later the University of Ibadan), he earned postgraduate degrees at the University of London, where he developed his trademark synthesis of African agency and colonial impact. Prof. Ayandele emerged as a leading voice in the famed “Ibadan School” of history, which revolutionised African historiography in the 1960s–1970s.

While contemporaries like Kenneth Dike focused on pre-colonial states, Ayandele pioneered the study of colonial-era African elites. His 1966 biography Holy Johnson: Pioneer of African Nationalism established his method: meticulous archival research combined with psychological profiling of historical actors.

At Ibadan, Ayandele became known for his combative seminars, where he challenged students to reject colonial-era historical frameworks. His 1970 paper “The Changing Position of the Awujale of Ijebuland” exemplified his approach using Yoruba oral traditions alongside colonial records to reconstruct indigenous agency under imperial rule. Ayandele’s magnum opus, The Educated Elite in the Nigerian Society (1974), remains his most impactful contribution, offering a framework still used to analyse governance. This work transcended history, influencing political science, sociology, and policy debates about education reform. The Educated Elite distilled decades of observation into a blistering critique.

Drawing from his dual identity as both product and critic of colonial education, he diagnosed Nigeria’s leadership crisis as rooted in what he termed “mental decapitation”—the elite’s alienation from indigenous value systems. The book’s controversial thesis argued that Nigeria’s Western-educated class had become “deluded hybrids,” mimicking colonial oppressors while failing to develop authentic national visions.

His analysis drew ire from contemporaries who saw it as elitist hypocrisy. Yet Ayandele, who served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Calabar (1975–1978), insisted his critique came from “patriotic anguish.” Colleagues recall his frustration when political leaders quoted his work selectively while perpetuating the systems he condemned.

Ayandele’s influence extended beyond historiography to political theory and sociology. His concept of “windsowers”-elites who reap independence’s benefits without sowing developmental seeds-entered popular discourse, used by activists and columnists alike. Later works like Nigerian Historical Studies (1979) and A Visionary of the African Church: Mojola Agbebi (1991) expanded his examination of cultural synthesis. Despite his critique of Nigeria’s trajectory, Ayandele rejected pessimism. His 1986 convocation lecture at the University of Jos, “The Challenge of Nationhood,” called for educational reforms integrating Indigenous knowledge-a vision unrealised but increasingly relevant in Nigeria’s competency-based curriculum debates.

Ayandele’s later years saw him marginalised by Nigeria’s academic establishment, his unsparing critiques deemed unfashionable in the structural adjustment era. Yet his warnings about elite reproduction mechanisms proved prescient. The 1990s explosion of private universities-many prioritising profit over pedagogy-validated his concerns about education becoming an elite status marker rather than a developmental tool.

Today, as Nigeria grapples with governance failures that eerily mirror Ayandele’s 1970s diagnoses, his work experiences renewed interest. Young scholars are rediscovering his insistence that historical scholarship must engage contemporary crises. The #EndSARS protests’ intellectual underpinnings-particularly their critique of intergenerational elite failure—may bear traces of Ayandele’s analytical framework.

Prof. Ayandele’s greatest contribution lies in framing Nigerian academia’s moral imperative—to produce scholarship that serves national development rather than elite interests. He died in 2000 – just as Nigeria transitioning to civilian rule after nearly 40 years of military dictatorship. He never held political office, yet his work continues to shape debates about Nigeria’s future. His unrealised vision of universities (where scholars synthesise global and Indigenous knowledge, and as crucibles that produces “New Nigerians”), remains academia’s urgent mandate

In an era of renewed decolonisation discourse, his call for synthesising global and indigenous knowledge rather than rejecting either offers a nuanced alternative to binary thinking.

The University of Ibadan, where he trained generations of historians, now houses his personal papers-a trove awaiting scholars willing to confront uncomfortable truths about Nigeria’s post-colonial journey.

As the nation struggles with persistent elite capture, Ayandele’s ghost seems to whisper from every crumbling infrastructure project and every rigged election: The educated elite have failed their historic mission. The question remains whether Nigeria’s current generation will heed his warning or repeat his lament.

As Nigeria grapples with crises of governance that Ayandele presciently dissected, his work stands as both indictment and roadmap-a challenge to transcend the pathologies he diagnosed over half a century ago.

Richard Ikiebe, Ph.D, FNIPR – who is the President of iNSDEC Limited/ GTE, is a media expert and scholar with extensive experience of over 45 years in both the public and private sectors. Was until recently a Senior Fellow and pioneer Director of the Center for Leadership in Journalism at the School of Media Communication (SMC) at Pan Atlantic University in Lagos, Nigeria. He continues to work with the University as an adjunct Senior Fellow teaching courses in Media Leadership and Public Policy.