By Dapo Ipoola
Afe Babalola The phrase “In the eye of history” refers to viewing events from a long-term and impartial perspective. It often highlights significant works, reflecting how time reveals deeper truths. It is also a concept tied to historical symbolism as a mirror of the soul or truth. However, it is also used literally in titles about the history of vision itself.
In essence, in the eye of history means looking at something with the benefit of hindsight, seeking deeper understanding beyond immediate perceptions, often through documented evidence or artistic interpretation.
History was defined as the systematic study and narrative of past human events, using evidence like artifacts, documents, and oral traditions to understand change over time, provide identity, and offer lessons for the future, covering everything from global civilizations and major wars to personal milestones and the development of ideas.
It’s a discipline within the humanities and social sciences, involving interpretation, analysis, and storytelling, with historians acting like detectives to piece together the past from clues.
In a brief essence, Karl Marx must have had Aare Afe Babalola in mind when he said, “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.” At 80, Aare Afe Babalola conceptualized the idea of founding a privately owned citadel of learning as his own way of adding value to humanity and knowledge acquisition, and that was one of the histories made by an enigma in law and humanity.
And by extension, the Baamofin of Yorubaland could be referred to as a polymath.
When checked upon, polymaths are those who have not stuck to a single area of knowledge and have dedicated themselves to exploring different opportunities by taking advantage of the circumstances offered by technological evolution and the increasingly blurred boundaries of scientific disciplines. Going by his panoply of seemingly unmatchable achievements, Aare Afe Babalola succinctly fits into the above description. From Economics to Law, Agriculture, science, education, leadership, entrepreneurship, and humanity, Baba Afe Babalola has become an “Irunmole” (Deity) virtually in all disciplines and human endeavors.
In a laconic sobriquet, Aare Afe Babalola has become a renaissance polymath who conceptualizes transmogrifying ideas ten times ahead of others.
As a way of rejuvenating the fast-ecplising values in education, Aare founded Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD. Today, his vision in education has in no unquantifiable measure redefined what is globally obtainable in education and set standards for modern day best practices.
ABUAD as his brainchild is reputable for many firsts- in medicine, law, engineering, agriculture, astronomy, science, education, leadership, entrepreneurship, and humanity.
As a private university, ABUAD generates its own independent power and oxygen, and this necessitated former Governor Kayode Fayemi during the inauguration of the IPP to say, “What the whole state has been finding hard to achieve regarding a better source of power supply, Babalola was able to do within a short time. Why will more garlands not be put on his neck? Why will Aare Baamofin of Yorubaland not be further recognized? His life has been that of achieving in the face of odds.”
As part of his own way of promoting education, Babalola awards scholarships to outstanding students and gives discounts on courses like Agriculture to encourage students to take more than active interest in agriculture, just as his heavy investment in agriculture has fetched him an award in Food Security, and he has instituted an annual awards for Ekiti farmers.
Known for his uncommon philanthropic gestures, Aare Afe Babalola has sponsored the education of countless hapless Nigerians who are today leaders and captains of industry.
His commanding stature and authority in law has compelled many governments to make him the AGF, an offer that he has rebuffed on numberless occasions.
While he was 80, he taught law in his university, with interest in Law of Evidence and Leadership. According to him, teaching Law is not new to him because he had taught before, both in secondary school and at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies. On why he teaches Law he said, “Some of the students came to me from our College of Law that I should teach them and I took up the challenge by taking them some courses including Law of Evidence, which is a very difficult course in Law.
Apart from Law, the University also exposed the students to entrepreneurial education and agriculture. Our students are taught entrepreneurial studies and agriculture as a way of encouraging them to develop interest in agriculture and to be self-reliant. This is the way I think Universities should affect their communities.
After my day’s work in the University, I make sure I go to the farm. I do this daily because it has therapeutic effect on me. I don’t need sleeping pills to sleep after going through the rough terrain on the farm. “For his impeccable penchant in excellence and academics, ABUAD’s Law Department is reputed to be the best in West Africa, while the College of Engineering was adjudged by the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, as the best equipped engineering college in Nigeria.
That Aare Afe Babalola is a Doyen in the healthcare sector is an understatement. With Aare Afe Babalola 400- bed Multi-System Hospital, AMSH, one needs not be recounted that the era of medical tourism is long gone. The AMSH was built on 60 hectares of land, and its consists of nine blocks. As a leading healthcare center, AMSH has successfully done over 40 kidney transplants and other sensitive renal breakthroughs with commendable records in brain and spine surgeries, neurosurgeries, and the first penile implant surgery in the country. At AMSH, there are dedicated centers in cardiac, renal, and fertility care with affordable in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.
According to the Founder, he lost six of his siblings to poor maternal healthcare and this must have informed the free medical services tagged “Afe Abiye Program”, a regular free community medical outreaches in antenatal care, consultations, laboratory investigations, and immunization for children under age five. At AMSH, best global practices are well observed and prioritized with world class health infrastructure which has been described as the most equipped health facility in the Sub-Saharan Africa, with advanced diagnostic equipment, including two Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRIs, two CT scanners (64 & 128 slices), Mammography, Fluoroscopy and a molecular laboratory for viral studies. “
“As a legal juggernaut, he has made appearances in court handling over 10,600 court cases, and his meritorious and enviable achievements have attracted to him many local and international recognitions and awards.
With ABUAD and its affiliate chain of entrepreneurial outlets, Aare Afe Babalola is the second biggest employer of labour and his businesses pay the highest taxes to the government in the state. In ABUAD, another astronomical wonder is ABUAD Planetarium.
According to studies, Planetarium is a domed building in which images of stars, planets, and constellations are projected for public entertainment or education. It could be a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation, especially space science, and traditionally constructed with a screen onto which images of stars, planets and other celestial bodies or objects are projected.
The planetarium was established to promote educational experience for knowledge seekers, students, and members of the public. In Nigeria, ABUAD’s planetarium is first, and the second in West Africa, and the second largest in Africa. ““Today, many stories of how Aare Afe Babalola made it from his humble beginning to the echelon of enviable greatness and nobility is replenished with courage, perseverance, hardwork prayer and determination. A man was formally not trained in any classroom sat for A’level exams and passed.
This alone is more than grace. Through his visionary hindsight, he has bequeathed to the world an enduring legacy that transcends generations. “Men make history and not the other way around. Going by the words of the late sage, Harry S. Truman, he said,
“In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.”
In future time, posterity shall inevitably vindicate Aare Baamofin of Yorubaland as that one person who left the world better than he met.