By Bamidele Ademola-Olateju

Some friends extend the frontiers of friendship and remake genetics. This category of friends know who you really are. They can predict you with alarming accuracy. They complete your sentences and they read you like a book. Year in, year out, I have brought Pius to you the way he is, outside the scholarly, Professorial circle. Yearly, I bring to you the ordinary Pius. The man who wears the indigo plumes of Agbe (Greater Blue-eyed Glossy Starling – lamprotonis chalybaus), the camwood plumes of Àlùkò (Carmine Bee-eater – merops nubicus), the crimson plumes of Odíderé (Africa Grey Parrot – psittacus erithacus) tail feathers and the unstained white plumes of Lékelèké (Cow Egret – areola ibis) without any contradiction. Happy birthday to you, my dear friend. A proud Isanlu son, a reverberating voice in Yoruba cultural rediviva, a pride to Nigeria and a beacon in Africa literary scene and in contemporary cultural renaissance.

To me, you are the face of loyalty, your loyalty to me is unquestionable! For that and many more of your attributes, I’m grateful for the gift of your birth. Long may you live in good health and in service to all.

P.S I tried conveying the expression identity of those Yoruba words. I hope my English readers can relate.