Adeboye Babalola

Solomon Adeboye Babalola(born Ipetumodu, Osun State, Nigeria, 17 December 1926 – 15 December 2008) was a Nigerian academic, poet and scholar.

Babalola was baptised into Christ Church of the Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.). He had a strong Christian upbringing and attended the C.M.S Christ Primary School, Wasimi, Ipetumodu. He was an active member of the church choir and often sang in the shower throughout his life. Babalola accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour while at Igbobi College, and was confirmed by the Bishop of Lagos, Rt. Rev. Gordon Vining on November 24, 1943.

Education In 1936, at the age of 10, Babalola was selected by his teacher, Mr. S.T. Fakoya, to sit for the entrance examination to the Government Colleges of Nigeria. This examination was held in Ibadan, and as a Standard Four boy, he competed with the big boys in Standards Six and Five. It was a good practice run; in 1937 he took the Entrance Examination to Igbobi College, Lagos and was admitted into Form One in January 1938. This was the beginning of his academic prowess.

Adeboye was Senior Prefect and Captain of Oluwole House from January to June 1944, before proceeding to Achimota College in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, to pursue the Intermediate Bachelor of Arts Programme, on scholarship from Igbobi College. It was while at Achimota School, that the detailed results of the School Certificate Examination of Igbobi College was received. He had passed with 9 ‘A’s or "alphas". This made him popular.

Babalola was invited to sit the examinations to the University Section although he was given automatic admission based on his academic antecedents. Thereafter, he received the results of his B.A. Examinations – "A" Very Good in English and Latin; "B" Good in Geography and Economics.

Career From 1946 – 1948, he was a teacher. On August 8, 1946, he returned to Igbobi College where he was known as "Nine-Alphas Babalola" or "Accurate Man" – this time as a member of the teaching staff. In August 1947, he applied for the Nigerian Government Colonial Welfare and Development Scholarship. He successfully gained a scholarship tenable at Queen’s College in the University of Cambridge, England at the age of 22.

He arrived in Cambridge in October 1948 and joined the Student Christian Movement and also served as the Secretary of The African Student’s Club. It was at Cambridge that he responded to a request by the BBC West Africa Service to submit English verse translations of the oral poetry of their people.

Babalola's scholarly works have been prominent in preserving a great deal of African oral traditions. Adeboye Babalola died on Monday December 15, 2008.