The Dele Farotimi saga: Persecution, not prosecution, By Toyin Falola

One of the tenets of a democratic society is the assurance of freedom of speech and expression for its citizens. This includes the right to speak and criticise in order to ensure that society does not derail in upholding its values. The test of democracy is not at the point of comfortable tolerance of these […]

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Orí ẹ tigbá’lẹ̀, By Toyin Falola

The other day, on the plane, two ladies sat behind me. I was minding my own business, re-reading one of my pieces, “Mummy let the Singles Breathe” (https://www.newtimes.com.ng/mummy-let-the-singles-breathe/). However, the conversation between these two women, whom I will call Miss A and Miss B here, distracted me and captured my attention. Trust me, I always mind my business,and I tried my best to turn […]

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Our UNILAG: An acceptance speech, By Toyin Falola

Distinguished members of the faculty, esteemed guests, and the vibrant student body of the University of Lagos, it is with immense humility and profound gratitude that I stand before you today. As I accept this honorary doctorate, a powerful emblem of scholarly eminence, I am reminded of the incredible journey this prestigious institution has undertaken […]

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Toyin Falola: A lifetime achievement honour for a colossus, By Temitope Oriola

The Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) has awarded the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award to Toyin Falola, a professor of History, University Distinguished Teaching Professor and the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas, Austin. CAAS is the preeminent association of Canadian scholars studying Africa. The Lifetime Achievement Award […]

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Death at dawn, rebirth at dusk, By Toyin Falola

I Death Twilight-zone, Afterlife, What-Mays, and Whatnots; Questions that transcend mortal thoughts. Uncertainties plucked by the hands of certainty pondering life beyond the galaxy. Philosophies, religions, and sciences; Ancient lenses to dissect and ponder. Beliefs, opinions, and standpoints in their multiplicities; Scalpels that open the heart of certain death Blazing free the skins of uncertainty. […]

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Toyin Falola: A tribute to my younger brother, By Matthew Hassan Kukah

Apart from basking in the euphoria of Arsenal’s current form, few other things gave me momentary excitement in the last one month like knowing that the great Toyin Falola is after all, only my younger brother. I am not big on birthdays and almost every year, I have to beg for forgiveness from aggrieved friends […]

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TF at 70: A heart full of appreciation, By Toyin Falola

For many people, age 70 is a point of celebration. They invite several individuals to felicitate with them for what they have been through, what they have achieved, and all that has happened in seven decades. It is worth the celebration. Casting one’s mind back to every single moment and drawing out several memories, journeys, […]

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Toyin Falola: A Transcendental Academic Giant at 70, By Farooq A. Kperogi

It isn’t usual for me to devote an entire column to celebrate the birthday of an individual. But Professor Toyin Falola, a far-famed endowed professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin whom I have called the patriarch of African academics in North America, isn’t an everyday individual. He is an institution, a […]

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Writing Invisible Lives: Memory As History In Cherno Njie’s “Sweat Is Invisible In The Rain”, By Toyin Falola

The book, Sweat is Invisible in the Rain, written by Cherno M. Njie, is better classified as a documentation of three interconnected stages of the author’s life, career, vision, and ambition. The book successfully privileges the historical and the factual over the literary. It deals with causation using a wide range of facts, explaining why […]

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