Since June 21, 2025, the Cartoonists Association of Nigeria (CARTAN) has been showing love, appreciation and respect to one of their own; a pioneer, legend and gifted hand.
The members, who are among the best cartoonists in Africa, are pulling all stops to mark the 80th birthday of Dele Jegede, a professor and pioneer cartoonist, who turned 80 years on April 19, 2025.
Whilst Jegede, a Nigerian-American painter, art historian, cartoonist, curator, art critic, art administrator, and teachers is relaxing in his base in the United States of America, his prodigies, students and fellow cartoonists are celebrating him back home.
To mark the milestone birthday, CARTAN trully rolled out its loudest drums in an exhibition titled ‘A Life Well Drawn’, featuring cartoons, caricatures, paintings and drawings in honour of Dele Jegede. The exhibition, which is in collaboration with Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos, is worth seeing due to the generous display of a diverse collection of artworks from some of Nigeria’s most talented cartoonists, who are paying tribute to Jegede’s remarkable contributions as a painter, cartoonist, art historian, and cultural commentator.
It also features a wide range of creative works, showcasing the artistic prowess and depth of expression of the participating cartoonists.
So far, since its opening on June 21, 2025, several artists and caricaturists under CARTAN have lived up to expectations, considering the volume and quality of works on display at the one-week exhibition just to honour one of their own, or rather their best hand.
For the one week at Didi Museum, an outfit, which has shown uncommon commitment to supporting artists, cartoonists such as Mike Asukwo, Tayo Fatunla, Dada Adekola (president of CARTAN), Morak Oguntade, Albert Ohams, Chino Obasi, Samuel Ojo, among others, are truly on fire, amid healthy rivalry and the unleashing of their creative ingenuity.
In his welcome address at the opening of the exhibition, Dada Adekola, president of CARTAN, noted that the event is not an ordinary gathering.
“Today, we honour a living legend whose pen has provoked thoughts, sparked laughter and challenged power. Through cartoons, paintings and drawings, Dr. Jegede has chronicled our national journey with satire and sensitivity and has laid the foundation for generation of artists and thinkers to follow,” Adekola, who is also the group cartoon editor of Vanguard Newspaper, said.
Speaking on Jegede’s life and art, Tayo Fatunla, one of the participating cartoonists, noted that a few people have shaped their field as profoundly as Dele Jegede has influenced the Nigerian art scene.
“His innovative styles and techniques stand out amongst many. He has been of great encouragement to young and older cartoonists.
“As a Board member of CARTAN, he has immeasurably supported Nigeria’s Cartoonists association physically and financially, as well as intervening when issues arose within CARTAN.
“His involvement and sometimes participation in CARTAN’s events is exceptional and has been of great encouragement and in the process has been a blessing to CARTAN through the years,” Fatunla said.
On his part, Mike Asukwo, chief cartoonist of BusinessDay Media Limited, expressed his excitement at being one of the exhibiting artists.
“I am currently participating in the ongoing art exhibition celebrating the 80th birthday of Professor Dele Jegede, a renowned artist, cartoonist, painter, and art historian,” he said.
“Although I never met Prof while he taught at Yaba College of Technology—he had left before I enrolled—I have admired his work for many years. Our paths finally aligned when I became the president of the Cartoonists Association of Nigeria (CARTAN) in 2018, and he was the natural and unanimous choice to chair our Board of Trustees”.
According to Asukwo, a multiple award-winning cartoonist and multidisciplinary artist, Jegede’s mentorship has been instrumental in the growth of CARTAN. “His guidance, support, and steady encouragement—often via call, SMS, or email—have had a profound impact not just on the association but on me personally.
“He is remarkably ICT-savvy and engages fluidly across social media and digital platforms, making interaction with him always insightful and timely.
“Even from abroad, Prof remains deeply connected to Nigeria’s realities. He engages with my cartoons with sharp understanding, offering critiques and commentary that reflect his deep knowledge of our socio-political landscape,” Asukwo concluded, while inviting the public to visit the ongoing exhibition.
For Lemi Ghariokwu, artist famous for designing Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s album covers and other creative works, the exhibition is an honour well deserved for Jegede.
“As a cartoonist myself, I found inspiration in Dr. Jegede’s work. I genuinely praise him for his contributions to Nigerian art and cartooning. Reading cartoons by Dr.
Jegede, Josy Ajiboye and Kenny Adamson in Nigerian newspapers inspired me as a young artist striving on the streets of Lagos,” Ghariokwu confessed.
Apart from the Nigerian exhibition, Jegede, who still paints at 80 years, is celebrating the milestone birthday with a solo exhibition titled, “Dele Jegede: Recent Work,” at the Calabar Gallery in Brooklyn, United States of America, this June.
Meanwhile, the exhibition has received impressive visitations including the likes of Bruce Onobrakpeya, legendary artist; Kolade Oshinowo, elder statesman of Nigerian art; Kunle Filani, among others.
Meet the legendary cartoonist:
Born in Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti State, about 80 years ago, Dele Jegede got his first job as a youngster at PWD, a constructioncompany in Lagos. This provided him with the moral and financial stability to enrol at Yaba College of Technology, where he was influenced by many art instructors, including Adebayo and Yusuf Grillo.
He was well-known as a comic artist and editorial cartoonist, with several works including the daily comics ‘Flower Power’ and Kole the Menace. Although his active career in the cartoon world was for about 20 years, he still had a significant impact on the development of Nigerian newspaper cartoons locally and nationally as he worked as a newspaper cartoonist and art editor for The Daily Times of Nigeria and Sunday Times, its sister publication. Incidentally, his cartoons were all published in the mid-1980s. His Kole the Menace cartoon strips went through a period of Kole with caps on and without caps. Daily Times published a cartoon compilation of Kole into a small booklet where Kole was with an assorted range of wears, including a variety of hats/caps. Jegede also published satirical political cartoons in the Sunday Times and Lagos Weekend under the titles ‘Pocket Cartoons’, ‘Deles Opinion’, ‘Weekend Cartoons’ or simply under his own name.
The Sunday Concord Newspaper published his cartoons in colour under the title ‘Funny Cords’. This was the first colour Sunday comics section in a Nigerian newspaper.
Kole the menace started in the Sunday Times in 1975 and ran till 1979 when Jegede left Nigeria for Indiana University in the US for his graduate studies. Though he left the Daily Times in December 1976, where he assumed his new position at University of Lagos in January 1977, he continued producing Kole cartoons after he had left the newspaper up till 1979.
He later relocated to the US to continue in his beloved carer.
Meanwhile, the exhibition runs from June 21-28, 2025, at Didi Museum, Victoria Island, Lagos.
