First African EBHS Principal, Oyewole, Passes on at 94

Raheem Akingbolu

The first African Principal of the Ekiti Baptist Boys High School, now Ekiti Baptist High School, Igede Ekiti; High Chief Emmanuel Ilesanmi Oyewole is dead. He was age 94.

Oyewole who is also the Okunato of Aramoko Ekiti died barely three months after the demise of his wife of over 60 years; Chief (Mrs.) Florence Mosebolatan Oyewole. Both of them were pillars in the Nigerian Baptist Convention and they remained committed to the ideals of the church till their last days.

Chief Mrs. Oyewole a retired school headmistress who was also the Iyaloja of Aramoko Ekiti died on 27th September, 2026. Preparations for her burial ceremony were at top gear when the news of her husband’s passing was announced.

Meanwhile, the death of Chief Oyewole has sent waves of both grief and celebration across Nigeria largely due to his legacy as a teacher, administrator and community leader. Among other achievements, his contribution to the education sector and his stint at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the old Ondo State remain a watershed.

A graduate of Physics from the prestigious Fourah Bay College, Sierra Leone; the first university-level institution in Africa, Chief Oyewole was at different times the Principal of Obalatan Commercial Secondary School, Ilupeju-Ekiti, Ode Grammar School, Ode Ekiti and Annunciation School, Ikere ekiti. Others were Ise-Emure Grammar School, Ise-Emure Ekiti and Notre Dame College, Usi Ekiti

While members of his community and old students of the various schools where he served as teacher/Principal continue to mourn and express grief over his passage, his record as the first African Principal of EBHS, Igede-Ekiti following the departure of the late American Principal; Mr. J.B. Hill is perhaps the most memorable.

The late Oyewole joined the staff of Ekiti Baptist Boys High School Igede -Ekiti in September 1958 as a teacher and graduate from Fourah Bay College.

He was admitted to Fourah Bay College, now University of Sierra Leone in 1960 to read Physics and successfully graduated in 1964 when he fully joined the Staff of EBBHS, now EBHS.

According to the record obtained from the school, while on long vacation, the then young Oyewole used to come back to the school to teach. He subsequently became the Vice Principal of the School after the departure of the late Mr J. S. Adelowo, a graduate of University College now the University of Ibadan who left the school in 1964 to be the Principal of the Akinorun Grammar School, Ikirun, his hometown.

Oyewole later became a substantive Principal of EBBHS in 1966 following the departure of the late Mr. J.B. Hill who left for the popular Hillcrest School , Osogbo where children of the American Southern Baptist Convention Missionaries attended.