Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Happy Birthday: Dr. Michael Afolayan

A Hearty and Happy Birthday, Bàbá, Ọ̀jọ̀gbọ́n Pàtàkì Afolayan! May your shadow grow longer still. Baba Àgbàlagbà Ọ̀jọ̀gbọ́n TF has captured it all. He is best at peeping into my spirit, taking words, not from my mouth, but from the inner recesses of my heart. I am not lying O, afteral, "àgbàlágba doesn't lie"! 

Alàgbà Afolayan, we celebrate with you this day the goodness and faithfulness of God Almighty in your life, home, career and the Ministry. You are indeed a blessing to our generation. Wishing you a doubled anointing, and a renewal of your youthful days; do mount up with wings like the Eagle for greater exploits in the strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, as you age with grace. Long life in robust health, and a holistic prosperity. Cheers. 

Prof. Ademola Omobewaji  Dasylva,  FNAL
(Professor of African Literature, Oral Poetics & Performance), 
Department of English;
Coordinator,  Ibadan Cultural Studies Group (ICSG);
Chairman, Board of TOFAC (International);
Recipient, 2009 Distinguished  Africanist Award for Research Excellence, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Recipient, 2019 Asante Award for Outstanding Research in African Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, USA.
Rm. 68, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
+234(0)802 350 4755

On Wed, 16 Dec 2020, 11:43 Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso, <jumoyin@gmail.com> wrote:

Happy, happy birthday to Professor Michael Afolayan! A great man indeed, with great wisdom and great faith, and always humble and kind. I have learnt a great deal from listening to him weigh in on various subjects. May the years that follow be kind and prosperous sir.

On Tuesday, December 15, 2020 at 5:17:47 PM UTC+1 toyinfalola wrote:

Baba Michael Afolayan is older today!

 

 

The older you get in Africa, the closer you are to the ultimate efficiency—the ability to ask others to do things for you. When you call two, four will answer! May today bring that efficiency favor to Dr. Afolayan. Ase!

 

He is a man with complete fulfillment in his life, both private and public. He enjoys touches of humor—of the medium ones—and he has the grandeur of humanness. He is a spiritual leader—he writes scriptural messages for his local newspapers. He has shown me some drafts to read, like inviting a Satan to a seminar on Jah!

 

He is a devoted family man, married to my great friend, Precious. Indeed! While Precious can marry my friend, only Patience can marry me. Precious and Patience have interacted severally.

 

I once created an informal meditation network, and when I stopped, Baba Afolayan was not happy. Our friend, Vik Bahl, my Bhagavad teacher—as if Esu is not enough—has pressured me to collect those pieces into a book of wisdom, forgetting that when you need wisdom, you lack them; and once acquired, you need them no more.

 

Dr. Afolayan received education for living, not for degrees, and he lives well. A man gifted with the Bible and Ifa simultaneously, his collage is a blessing, spiritually useful and offered in multiple societies. I once proposed to dele jegede, that talented artist with the beard of Moses but without the rod that split the sea, to move to Austin. I wanted to create a cluster of retired Africans living together. I had the same idea for Afolayan.

 

Wale, the manager of Pan African University Press, asked me two days ago, "Why do you like Baba Afolayan and Baba Dauda so much." I said I could not answer the question. Friendship must reach a state of unconsciousness to have meaning. The anecdotes are many, but the retelling must await another day.

 

Happy birthday, great man.

TF

 

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