A fortnight after the the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin, captured the imagination of lovers of knowledge and elocution with the two hundred and seventy-third Inaugural Lecture delivered by the distinguished Professor of Business Law; Mubarak Tijani Adekilekun, who espoused his contributions as an academic at the zenith of the academic ladder in a Lecture entitled, " Devils and Saints in the Legal Landscape of Public-Private Partnership in Africa ", another intellectual feast is ready at the home Faculty of the Vice Chancellor; Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN. He is again inviting the Public to join the University Community at another festival of knowledge this evening, Thursday, ( February 13,2025) at 4:45 p.m for the two hundred and seventy-fourth Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ilorin.

At the last Inaugural Lecture, Adekilekun brought home, how his research was not just left to gather dust on shelves, but his findings were activated into government policies in Malaysia ,where he obtained his Ph.D, and in China.

This time, an erudite Professor of Shariah, Azizat Omotoyosi Amoloye-Adebayo, the first woman to be so recognised in her field at the University of Ilorin, will be mounting the rostrum to deliver her lecture, which is entitled, "Islamic Law and the Woman's Agency. "

Apart from being from the same Faculty, the two dons were appointed as Professors last year, and both practice(d) their legal careers throwing fireworks from the Ghalib Chambers of Yusuf Olaolu Ali and Co.

Since her younger days, Azizat Amoloye-Adebayo had been a star girl and role model. As a teen back in 1996, when she completed her secondary school education at the Queen Elizabeth School, Ilorin, she etched her name in the annals of Queens' School by securing a permanent place for herself on the school's hall of fame. Today, she is the Queen of Islamic Law at the University of Ilorin.

Ever since then, she has never stopped gathering academic garlands. To sample but a few of her laurels, Azizat Amoloye-Adebayo was not only the best student in the Law of Inheritance at the end of her Bachelor's degree at Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, she was the best graduating student of her Faculty. Similarly, she was the best student in International Law and Human Rights at her Master's degree programme obtained from the University of Ibadan. As for her Ph.D, it was funded with a Commonwealth scholarship; the degree was awarded by the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, in 2012.

From South Africa to the United States and beyond, Amoloye-Adebayo has won several grants around the world.

This evening, Azizat, a daughter of an Adebayo and spouse to another Adebayo, will be giving us an insight on her journey to earning her professorial chair, where she sits at the table of legends: A table of legends indeed, because, she is a Professor at the Department where Professor Zubair AbdulQadir researched and taught as the first Professor of Shariah in West Africa; she is a Professor at the department where academic heavyweights like Prof. AbdulQadir Abikan and Professor Abdulrazaq A. Alaro ply their trade as University dons. Again, she is the first woman to join the exclusive professorial club in her Department.

It is however no surprise that she has come this far to those who have always known her as the scion of two distinguished scholars. The Inaugural Lecturer is daughter to my teacher; Dr. Bilqis Ajoke Amoloye, and to Dr. Abduljelil Adebayo Amoloye, a departed academic gem who once taught at the Department of Religions, University of Ilorin, and who was a Commissioner for Education in Oyo State. I remember him fondly as a modest and a warm cleric gentleman.

Azizat Adebayo-Amoloye therefore carries on the torch of knowledge and righteousness handed to her by her parents as she continues to keep minds illuminated.

Professoe Azizat Amoloye-Adebayo once wrote about her father's legacy of "living, loving and learning ". That legacy keeps shinning bright from across different academic disciplines such that the year 2024 became a year of epochs for the Amoloyes as two more members of the family ; Dr. Mubarak Adewale Amoloye and Dr. Taofeeqat Amoloye-Abu also bagged their Ph.Ds. They transitioned into what I call titled scholars. In that family, everyone is a doctor.

The legacy of loving along with that of learning is also very much alive and I have an anecdote in that direction. A few years back, Dr. Mubarak was my guest at the office. His visit was at a period during which I had to ambulate with the aid of a walking stick. Mubarak wanted to help pick my support stick but he would rather refer to it as a 'staff' than a 'stick'. I smiled without making comments as I read the warmth in his choice of word.

As part of the applause which greeted the elevation of Amoloye-Adebayo as Professor of Islamic Law was a reception hosted by Professor of Law Practice, Yusuf Olaolu Ali SAN; a renowned patron of scholarship, on the second day of June , 2024.

Upon sighting the new Prof. at the event, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof Ishaq Oloyede, was beside himself with emotion. He went poetic as he declared his pride in the younger Professor. Oloyede reacted with "a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings", just as Willaim Wordsworth described poetry.

That reaction embodied the collective feelings of many wiho have some institutional memory of the University's mini campus, especially the Department of Religions, its lecturers and their abodes, in the eighties . That memory holds a lot of cherished past and dreams.

The young and the old dons once lived at very close quaters, and both had become Professors of Islamic Law, albeit, at different Faculties. The older was about to retire in 2024, while the younger had just arrived at the destination of elite scholars-hence the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

For a long time before her ultimate elevation, Prof. Amoloye-Adebayo has been offering a lot of community services by mobilising and facilitating knowledge transfer at both formal and informal forums.

In the depth of Prof. Amoloye-Adebayo's knowledge, in the wisdom of her propositions and in the eloquence of her unspoken words, even in her gaze, we often encounter a lot more than we often sought. In them, we are again privileged to encounter Dr. Abduljelil Adebayo Amoloye who remains with us preaching, teaching, guiding and assuring through this phenomenal Professor, who is herself another examplary cleric-don.

The Inaugural Lecture therefore comes highly recommended for all lovers of wisdom, knowledge and purposeful existence.

Oladosu writes from the Directorate of Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin.