Most African historiography considers the well-known work Dahomey and Its Neighbors, 1708–1818 to be a masterpiece.
He also attended Ijebu Ode Grammar School between 1946 and 1950, Fourah Bay College in Freetown between 1952 and 1954, and later the University of Durham in England, where he earned his B.A.
He was sent back to England in this capacity to undertake research at the London Public Records Office.
He was appointed a Commonwealth Scholar at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies in 1960.
He began working at the University of Ife in the same year as a lecturer in the history department.