By Adadareporters
Bankole Ajibabi Omotoso, popularly known as Kole Omotoso, is dead. Omotoso, a professor of English, died at 80 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Omotoso, a renowned literary scholar, lived in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa for many years. His death was contained in a release by his family.
The short statement read, “Our beloved father and husband moved on from this plane on Wednesday 19th late afternoon. We are sharing this with his close and much-loved community and will share more as we gather ourselves.
“Thank you for your care and love and support.”
The late literary icon was born on April 21, 1943, in Akure, Ondo State. He attended Kings’ College, Lagos, and the University of Ibadan and later undertook a doctoral thesis on the modern Arabic writer Ahmad Ba Kathir at the University of Edinburgh.
He returned to his alma mater, the University of Ibadan, where he taught Arabic studies between 1972 and 1976 from where he moved to the University of Ife to work in drama from 1976 to 1988.
Prof Omotoso started writing for various magazines (including West Africa) in the 1970s. His most read fiction is ‘Just Before Dawn’.
