In memorial of Tai Solarin: My Teacher, My Mentor and My Role Model -By Adekunle Theophilius

July 26, 2025, will make it thirty one years since Tai Solarin passed away. The resurgence of hope in a better Nigeria and the publicising of the renewed hope agenda by the present administration both underscores and signposts the kernel of this great man’s ideals and precepts — Education, Diligence, Hard work, Honesty, Solidarity and Progress.

Uncle Tai as he was popularly known was an exceptional teacher, tireless activist, acclaimed motivator, talent nurturer and avid humanist. Although, he never taught me directly, but like numerous people worldwide, I am blessed and grateful to have passed through and be influenced by the Tai Solarin School of Thought. The first time I saw him speak, I felt he was down to earth, unconventional, passionate about Nigeria and Nigerians and evinced an altruistic commitment to solidarity and justice. His boundless sense of decency, persistence of purpose, display of etiquette, unparalleled selflessness and endearing pleasantness attracted people to him. Everywhere he went, he was swarmed by people who just wanted to touch, see and hear him . Such was the enormousness of reverence this humanist was held by people from all walks of life.

To uncle Tai, education is not just only about acquiring knowledge, obtaining certificates and reading books, it is more about highlighting cogent social issues, inspiring people, developing zeal for common good , espousing patriotism and making choices that have positive impact on human and societal progress. It is about the belief that what humans do individually matters a lot and has positive or negative implications on other humans and their destinies. It is about making choices that will neither harm nor clutter others and their growth. It is about being the proverbial brother’s keeper and societal watchdog at the same time. He deployed education and advocacy to successfully shatter stale myths, debunk retrogressive beliefs, challenge ingrained assumptions and battle unjust status quos.

Tai Solarin was acknowledged to be light years ahead in terms of foresightedness, mentality and orientation. He often drew impregnable nexuses between education and thinking positively, articulating facts, acting responsibly, displaying candor, advancing truth and preventing injustice. To him learning is about challenging assumptions that subjugate people , imprison minds and shackle societies. It is about, as James Baldwin wrote, making the world “a more human dwelling place.” Uncle Tai was among the first sets of social activists in Nigeria, little wonder he was always keen to put himself on the line, at workers’ rights sit-ins, human rights protests, activities to advance social equity, displaying patriotism and penning incisive essays about the state of the nation.

Tai Solarin’s life was defined by his passion for education and its centrality in societal development. Whether as an activist or educator, his depth of knowledge and genuine concern about issues – from human rights, national unity and political consciousness to preserving the dignity of the dead — were extraordinary and noble .I wanted to learn and Solarin opened my eyes to the essence of ideology as the basis for national development. Solarin made me see the importance of education as a means of societal advancement. He taught me to be independent- to evaluate everything i read and heard and apply them in daily life contexts. From Tai Solarin, I learnt the ethos of Fran Peavey who said “Questioning breaks open the stagnant, hardened shells of the present, opening up options to be explored” . Tai Solarin activated the activist, pan africanist and humanist in me not by what he wrote, never by what he said, but basically by what he practiced, his principles, enthusiasm and lifestyle.

Those were those halcyon days, when as a result of the activities of people like Ayodele Awojobi, Gani Fawehinmi, Mokwugo Okoye, Tai Solarin, Kanmi Osobu, Femi Johnson, Alao Aka Bashorun etc youths became steeped in ideological cauldron and national passion, choosing role models from and could be motivated by the likes of (through interest in reading articles and listening to reports about ) Marcus Garvey, Michael Imoudu, Walter Rodney, Ben Barka, Frederick Douglass, Patrice Lumumba, Walter Sisulu, Amilcar Cabral, Sekou Toure, Agostinho Neto, Gamal Abdel Nasser et al. Thanks to the Great Tai, as a youth, i was a bit familiar about the ideals Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Leon Trotsky, I knew the basics of Frantz Fanon’s the wretched of the earth, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s the Idiot, Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Beyond Good and Evil , Wole Soyinka’s the man died, Leopold Senghor’s nocturnes, Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s the Gulag Archipelago and Hesiod’s: Work and Days. I fully understood the dynamics of Nguyen Vo Giap and Vietnam’s resolute victory over two world powers i.e France and United States , Patrice Lumumba’s travails and struggles in the hands of the Belgians and Americans in Zaire and how the Cubans led by Fidel Castro and the Nicaraguans led by Daniel Ortega overcame pro-imperialist destabilization forces in their respective countries.

Tai Solarin gave his life advocating for a better, prosperous and responsive Nigeria. He was avid about justice and his belief in the ability of individuals to make a difference in the world. He placed at the centre of his critique and the malfunctioning of the Nigerian society– the pervasiveness of docility, religiosity and corruption—three key issues that seem to have inexplicably confined he nation in the abyss of stagnation. He was an unbelievably decent and civil man who felt obliged to challenge unfairness wherever he found it. Uncle Tai wanted Nigeria to be a viable society that works for all irrespective of ethnicity, religion, social background and political beliefs. He sought a nation devoid of stale, vain and retrogressive ideas, beliefs, cultures and traditions that have seem to have perpetually and sadly bogged the blackman down everywhere.

Tai Solarin was in a world of his own, an icon, unassuming, selfless, a symbol of justice and an embodiment of principles. On two occasions in Budapest , Hungary, October 2009 and Milan, January 2014, two Europeans respectively interacted with me about how Tai Solarin positively influenced their lives. I felt so gratified to be a Nigerian and that the Great Tai elicited such positive testimonies. It is mainly because of Tai Solarin’s ideals that made me develop the passion for common good and nation building.

Uncle Tai would consistently reach into his rich reservoir, bring out and deploy enthusiasm, verve, humility and intellect to bond with and advocate for people from diverse socio-economic, political, religious and ethnic backgrounds. For Uncle Tai, Young, Old, Rich, Poor, Muslim, Christian, Woman and Man, the connection was humanity. Another distinguishing feature of this man was his deep identification with the suffering of Nigerians. There was no disconnection between Tai Solarin and the plight of Nigerians. He had experienced it, he had been there and had seen it all. He was an outspoken activist who was always critical of bad governance. He detested the pervasiveness of unethical practices and the celebration of corruption that violated every precept of common good and individuals who openly flaunted their ill-gotten wealth to create toxic value systems. That the ULTRA CONSERVATIVE AND PRO GOP, New York Times put out an Obituary, “Tai Solarin, 72, Nigeria Educator and Critic, Dies,” on page 43, of their late edition of 7 August 1994 is evidence of the international spread and the value of the rich currency of Uncle’s Tai’s ideals, humaneness, cosmopolitanism and his lofty antecedents.

As a nation, there is an urgent need to regularly bring to the fore and celebrate the legacies of citizens like Tai Solarin. This is essentially to show that despite the effusions of the modern day nattering nabobs of negativism Nigeria will continue stand like the rock of Gibraltar and also to prove that with the veracious perseverance, mind-set, planning, policies, decency, selflessness, honesty, efforts and cooperation, we Nigerians – individually and collectively can work collaboratively to rebuild Nigeria of our dreams and desire. Tai Solarin’s death is especially poignant for me because obviously the formative culture, socialization, patriotism, ideological depth, common good conviction, individual selflessness, eagerness for communal growth, social progress and sincerity of purpose which produced altruistic intellectuals and activists like him no longer exists in the country.

Uncle Tai has left us a legacy of work, activism and optimism that even the darkest times offers new possibilities for reclaiming positive politics and democracy, agency and critical thinking, ethics and a space of social responsibility and hope regardless of our current economic and security challenges. Another important lesson from the Great Tai Solarin is that he was a model, unrepentant and avowed patriotic citizen who freely, tirelessly and uncompromisingly worked for the development of Nigeria and firmly believed in the greatness of the country and its people without expecting any gain or gratification whatsoever in return. As we approach, the thirty first year anniversary of his death and as his ideals resonate and reverberate, may his spirit continue to inhabit our great country for a long time to come.

Adekunle Theophilius is a workers educator at MINILS, Nigeria and an external faculty Associate at GLRC, Canada