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
