The Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, has commiserated with the government and people of Kwara State on the death of the Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, Prof. Muhammed Mustapha Akanbi, SAN, who died on Sunday evening after a brief illness.
In a statement signed by the Director of Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin, Mr Kunle Akogun, Prof. Egbewole described the death of Prof. Akanbi as tragic and a colossal loss not only to KWASU and the University of Ilorin but to the entire humanity.
Prof Egbewole said that he received the death of Prof. Akanbi with utter disbelief and profound confusion because no one would have expected such a young, brilliant and energetic gentleman to die so soon.
Prof. Egbewole recalled that he shared so many things with his departed colleague, saying that apart from attending the same Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife with him, they both joined the services of the University of Ilorin about the same time.
The distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence and International Law added that he and the late KWASU Vice Chancellor also became Professors at the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin on the same date and were also elevated to the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria on the same date.
Prof. Egbewole opined that Prof. Akanbi was a diligent and exciting academic and administrator who contributed greatly to the progress of the UNILORIN’s Law Faculty and the University of Ilorin as a whole, recalling that his days as Head of Department, Ag. Dean and the Director, School of Preliminary Studies, among other positions he held, were full of great achievements.
The UNILORIN Vice Chancellor also recalled that the late Prof Akanbi’s services at KWASU would also be remembered in the realm of exemplary leadership and the recent approval of several new courses, particularly Medicine and Surgery, saying that KWASU has lost a reformer.
Prof. Egbewole added that all that Prof. Akanbi achieved in his 51 years of sojourn on earth have earned him immortality and would always place him in the comity of those who actually came, saw and conquered, saying that though it is always the wish of every mortal to live to old age,the life of Prof. Akanbi had proven that it is not always how long one lives but how well.
Prof. Egbewole, who also commiserated with the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji (Dr) Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari,
CFR, and KWASU Management as well as the nation’s legal community, urged the family, Faculty of Law, Unilorin and KWASU who are bereaved to take solace in the fact that though the life of the eminent legal luminary was short he lived a life worthy of emulation as his life was full of service to Allah and humanity.
The Vice Chancellor prayed Allah to overlook the shortcomings of Prof. Akanbi and admit his soul into Al-Janat fridouz and also grant all the bereaved the fortitude to bear the huge loss.
