Leadership
The Leaders of the Leaven Club
Prof. Gabriel Jimoh Afolabi Ojo, KSG, CON; Grand Patron, Leaven Club.
Prof. Gabriel Jimoh Afolabi Ojo, educationist, philanthropist, pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN is the founder of the Leaven Club. He was elected the first National Coordinator, from 1990 to 2008 and then handed the baton to Leavenite Augustine Isichei. Until his passing on August 30, 2020, aged 90 years, he was the Grand Patron of the Club. Prof. Ojo was born in Ado-Ekiti where he had his early school education and his first experience as a teacher and catechist in the town and the surrounding countryside.
He had strong cultural roots and held the traditional chieftaincy titles of Asiwaju of Ado-Ekiti, Balogun of Imesi-Ekiti and Otun Maye of Ile-Ife. His book, Yoruba Palaces: A Study of Afins of Yorubaland, (University of London Press, 1967), one of his 140 books and academic papers, is very well known worldwide. Prof Ojo was, for many years, the President of Ado- Ekiti Progressive Union of which he later became a Life Patron.Prof. Gabriel Jimoh Afolabi Ojo, educationist, philanthropist, pioneer Vice-Chancellor of the National Open University of Nigeria, NOUN is the founder of the Leaven Club. He was elected the first National Coordinator, from 1990 to 2008 and then handed the baton to Leavenite Augustine Isichei. Until his passing on August 30, 2020, aged 90 years, he was the Grand Patron of the Club. Prof. Ojo was born in Ado-Ekiti where he had his early school education and his first experience as a teacher and catechist in the town and the surrounding countryside. He had strong cultural roots and held the traditional chieftaincy titles of Asiwaju of Ado-Ekiti, Balogun of Imesi-Ekiti and Otun Maye of Ile-Ife. His book, Yoruba Palaces: A Study of Afins of Yorubaland, (University of London Press, 1967), one of his 140 books and academic papers, is very well known worldwide. Prof Ojo was, for many years, the President of Ado- Ekiti Progressive Union of which he later became a Life Patron.
Augustine Isichei, National Coordinator, Leaven Club International
Professor Augustine Onwuegbukiwe Isichei was an academic staff at the Obafemi Awolowo University from 1976 to 2020. He rose through the ranks to become a professor in 1993, a position he held for almost 27 years.
An ecologist, he is the Editor, The Nigerian Field (founded 1930), from 2012 to date, President, Botanical Society of Nigeria 2011 to 2016, Member, Nigerian National Committee of the UNESCO MAB Programme, Group Leader in the UNDP-GEF Niger Delta Biodiversity Project; Member of 16 Environmental Impact Assessment Panels of the Federal Ministry of Environment; Participated in the Pre-settlement botanical survey of the FCT in 1981.
He supervised several postgraduates in forest and savanna ecology. Biodiversity conservation, especially Green Economy in Biosphere Reserves (GEBR) continues to be a core interest after retirement from lecturing. Prof Isichei is a sportsman and a keen tennis player. He also engages in many other extracurricular activities: Chairman, University Sports Council, August 2011 to July 2013 & 2016 – 2020; Chairman, Parish Pastoral Council, Our Lady of Perpetual Parish, Catholic Community, O.A.U., Ile-Ife, 2008 – 2014; Member, Order of the Knights of St. Mulumba, Nigeria; Member Ubulu-Uku ’82 Club; he joined the Leaven Club in 1990 and is the current National Coordinator (2008 to date).