By Omoniyi Ibietan

The mortality of man is an unvarnished reality of our existence and we all know that death is a debt we have to pay. Perhaps after the fall on a massive body of snow in front of his house in January 2017, which badly hurt his ligament, Pius Adesanmi was faced, in a more concrete sense with the reality of his imminent death. He could have landed on the snow with his head and pass on at that moment. Adesanmi told Mitterand Okorie, one of his numerous mentees and confidants who is a doctoral fellow at the University of Kwazulu Natal, South Africa.

In 2018, while on a visit to Nigeria, Pius Adesanmi had a frightening auto accident that almost took his life. After his measurable recovery from the terrible injuries of that experience, he began to ‘wind down’ as the reality of his transition became more evident. On the Facebook group, THE AFRICAN DOCTORAL LOUNGE, which he established, Prof. Adesanmi began to hand over (to other persons) the responsibilities he had solely handled particularly in terms of the administration of the group.

Then, came the last week of his life. By my reckoning and reflection on his last writing – in the Tribune Newspaper in which he gave a hint that he would love to be remembered as one of those Nigerians who rejected being a slave; as well as his last Facebook post where he quoted a Bible Verse – it is now evident that Adesanmi had a premonition he was going soon.

The Pius we knew would tell us he was at a place for a programme after the event had taken place, but in this instance, he posted that Bible Verse on his Facebook page while still at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa before that ill-fated flight commenced and made Pius to depart finally. Prescience is an uncommon but awesomely great gift but Pius Adesanmi lives on…

Last night, there was a CANDLELIGHT GATHERING for the Late scholar-activist, enlightened intellectual, patriot and social entrepreneur. The event took place at The Unity Fountain, Abuja.

Also yesterday, a memorialization procession took place at the University of Ibadan – from the main gate, through the Faculty of Arts quadrangle and terminated at the Institute of African Studies. It was marked by rendition of tributes to Adesanmi.

Today, series of events are equally slated to hold in Lagos in this regard.

May Pius’ journey be smooth, may The Almighty God forgive his sins, Grant him eternal rest and continually uphold his wife, children and entire family.

Finally, I sympathise with those who lost properties last night through the criminal activities of the deviants of Abuja who broken into several cars and carted away bags containing laptop computers, money, ATM cards and many other valuable items. Rest assured that the criminals will face judgement here and hereafter but you shall recover much more than whatever you lost yesterday. May God bless you all.