Professor M.A. Kenku was an enigma, a gentle giant and a very passionate lecturer. It's only a few with brave heart could venture into the rem of Number Theory. But Prof. effortlessly thought the class to a few number of us with courage enough to face the challenge and be his student. Mobius function of order K along with Fermat last theory were some of the fascinating topics you thought that still linger in my mind till this moment.

Adieu Sir, forever you will be in my mind for all your support during my undergraduate final project in Unilag, graduating class of 2000.

May your soul rest in peace.

Rasaki Badaru

Comment posted in response to the UNILAG program in Prof Kenku's honor:

Great. Keep on doing the good work. I congratulate the Maths Dept, Unilag for this thoughtful program. Well done the HOD and other members. Surely, nothing will be too much to immortalise Prof Monsur Akangbe Kenku ( MAK). We remember with fondness, the memory of his time in UI with his then contemporaries like late Prof Olubunmo, Prof Tejumola, A.O Kuku; O. AKINYELE, PROF S.A Ilori one of our living ancestors and GOS Ekhaguere. They all laboured to put Ibadan on the global world map.

Prof Kenku will forever be remembered for his erudition and great contribution to the teaching and learning of Mathematics especially in Algebraic Geometry. This Oxford trained professor really paid his dues. I was in his linear Algebra class during the 1981/82 Session in UI. The way he carried himself and imparted with confidence, the knowledge of his subject matter have registered in my memory for ever and encouraged people like me to take to academics.

Rest in peace our worthy professor.
Prof Ezekiel O. Ayoola
UI.

Thank you for the inspirational life you lived. May your gentle soul continue to rest in peace.

I re-echo was has been shared as tributes to Prof. - very kind, gentle and generous. A man of excellence and he just stood out on campus amongst his peers as a Professor. In fact, he came across more like a professional in the private sector more than an academia. He surely has left his mark in the sands of time.

My life’s story will certainly not be complete without Prof! When my Dad retired in 1987 and decided to leave Lagos for the village, Prof was my life saver and guardian as he graciously accepted me into his boys quarters at Ozolua on the University of Lagos campus. This was in September 1986 when I was in my second year in till around July 1991 when I graduated.

Prof also played a critical role in me being able to overcome some self-inflicted challenges while on campus.

May his soul Rest In Peace and May the Lord bless the entire family!

Prof was a brilliant and considerate mentor to many who benefitted from his wealth of knowledge and generosity. Our thoughts and prayers are with mummy, Bro Tokunbo, Bro Gbenga, Amina, and the rest of the family. He will be missed. However, we take solace in knowing that he is in a better place. May his soul rest in peace. Amen.

Juwon and Uju Ayoku

Professor Monsur Akangbe Kenku was an extraordinary human being, the operating word being human. He was as profound as he was self effacing, generous and selfless to a fault and the very definition of loyal as much to family and friends as to whomsoever he crossed paths with.
I only very recently learnt at the 8th day prayers, that he and I very nearly because classmates in high school. He had passed the entrance examinations to Kings College, Lagos in the same year as I did but received his invitation to attend the interview days after the interviews had been concluded.
In any event we met at the appointed time at Oxford where he attended for his D. Phil - Doctor of Philosophy as PHD degrees are termed in the characteristically quaint Oxford way, in mathematics..
It was an instant and uncommonly deep and fond bond of friendship which lasted and waxed ever stronger till the very end, an experience I never felt either before or indeed since.
We had the best times of our lives at Oxford. A D.Phil in mathematics from Oxford University has to be one of the most rigorous intellectual accomplishments imaginable, and one that is by no means successfully navigated through by many very bright and intelligent people who attempt it, Monsur as he was fondly called by all, breezed through the program with seeming effortless ease and elegance. The full narration of his thesis is by itself. a complicated mouthful. He summed it up for me as 'the theory of numbers'. He clearly was extraordinarily brilliant and enormously intellectually gifted because all I can recall is the both of us having full time fun, and I mean full time partying day in day out, and enjoying all the non academic delights that Oxford had to offer. How he found the time for the taxing academic program he completed in a timely manner, is well and truly beyond me! What a giant of an intellectual. And yet he was very down to earth, humble and simply a thoroughly wonderful human being. A completely unsung hero- just the way he wanted it.
That to me are the attributes of a superlatively self confident man that doesn't wear his incredible gifts of intellect on his sleeves.
As the Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Transport, the two largest portfolios, he reminded all of what Nigeria needs to fulfill it's promise by the scrupulous diligence and intelligence he brought to the task completely selflessly and totally in the interest of the State. The major contractors were staggered in disbelief that their huge cheques were processed and delivered without any fuss in a routine manner with absolutely no need to know or see the Commissioner!
As Professor of mathematics in the University of Lagos, he left his indelible mark. A veritable full and accomplished life indeed.
It's going on two weeks now and I still cannot even begin to come to terms with his departure. How much more keenly must this be true for his family.
It really is the case that to have lived a memorable life and leave a truly good name behind as ones legacy is the supreme hallmark of the most enviable life possible than which nothing else comes even close to. There's never been a truer Yoruba saying than the one that roughly translates as ' a good name is of far greater value and worth than all the material wealth in the whole universe"
Monsur had more than enough houses, properties and earthly goods for a comfortable life and to discharge his responsibilities to his immediate as well as the wider family and relations. But far, far more importantly, he was a good man.
His family should take comfort, even as they grieve, that his legacy of a good name will sustain them for the rest of their own respective lives and for generations to come.
Good night my closest buddy, friend and most worthy brother. It was a privilege to have known you.
May Almighty Allah Grant u eternal peaceful repose.
Requiesce in pace.
Ladi Jadesimi