Culture icon Segun Olusola dies at 77

Culture icon Chief Segun Olusola passed on last night in a Lagos hospital. He was 77.

The late Olusola was Nigeria’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia.

 Renowned artist Prof. Bruce Onobrakpeya described Olusola’s death as a huge loss to the culture sector and the nation at large. He said his exit would create a big vacuum in the creative industry. 

“We are going to miss him very much. In fact, the artists’ community has been rocked by his death,” he said. 

Literary scholar and poet-activist Odia Ofeimun said Olusola was one of the few voices that were knowledgeable about the Nigerian arts and artists. He described the late ambassador as a man who stood up for the arts at all time. “It is sad and we are going to miss him,” Ofeimun added.  

Executive director of   CBAAC, Professor Tunde Babawale, said Olusola’s death would create a big vacuum in the sector because he was a cultural icon and an institution. “Olusola lived art, believed in it, and gave all to its development. We will miss him as a reservoir of wisdom, fountain of cultural knowledge, and as a reference personality. But our solace is that Baba left a legacy that will outlive him. His contributions to the sector will remain indelible in the annals of history.” 

Prince Yemisi Shyllon described Olusola’s death as a monumental loss. He said until his death he was a friend of everyone in the sector and attended almost every art event. He said Olusola believed in the nation’s culture and did a lot to propagate it. “A leader in his own right and very artuiculate in his position,” Shyllon said. 

 Chief Segun Olusola will be remembered from four fronts. First is the Arts and Culture (he was an actor, playwright and a founding member of The Players of the Dawn, an amateur theatre outfit that held sway until 1959, prior to the emergence of the 1960 Masks, a more professional theatre outfit established by Prof. Wole Soyinka. He was an art connoisseur whose family gallery, Ajibulu-Moniya Gallery transformed into a full-blown commercial gallery open to public till date. In Broadcasting, he became the first African television on the Western Nigeria Television (WNTV) debuted in Africa with its first transmission. In Diplomacy, he was the longest-serving Ambassador of Nigeria to Ethiopia (1987 - 1993). He was reputed as a Culture Ambassador who employed the instrumentalities and functionalities of  arts and culture to drive Diplomacy. In Humanitarian circle, he was moved by his experiences as a diplomat when he dealt with many critical refugee issues, to eventually found the African Refugees Foundation in 1993.

Ambassador Olusola hailed Iperu-Remo in Ogun State. He attended St. John’s Catholic School and Wesley School, Iperu-Remo from 1941 to 1947. He did his secondary school education at Remo Secondary School , Sagamu between 1941 to 1947. He proceeded to the United States and attended Pittsburgh Universities.

He is survived by his wife, Chief Mrs. Beatrice Fehintola Olusola; his children: Ms. Aderonke Ajibulu-Moniya, Mr, Jimi Olusola III, Mrs.Toyin Laditi, Mr. Sabitu Olusola, Mrs. Toyin Adejumo and Mr. Samuel Olusola; his immediate younger sister, Chief Mrs. Biodun Kehinde and others. 

By Ozolua Uhakheme                               Courtesy Of: The Nation