It was a deluge of tears and tributes yesterday at the Trenchard Hall of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, during the lying-in-state and interment of Prof. Opeyemi Ajewole, who was on Monday evening, 5th June, 2023, gunned down at his Olororo area of Ojoo, Ibadan by some yet-to-be-identified assassins.
Members of the University of Ibadan Academic community, friends, family and relations of the deceased converged to recall their fond memories of the man called: “Iroko”. He was a professor of Social and Environmental Forestry in the University. Among the dignitaries that paid tributes to him were: the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, UI Chapter, Prof Ayo Akinwole, President of the Senior Staff Club of the University (Dr Bisi Lawuyi) and representative of Forestry Association of Nigeria, among others.
In his short message at the lying-in-state, Prof Ayo Akinwole, said the Union will continue to fight for justice and ensure that the police arrest the killers of their comrade, emphasizing that: “The merciless people have cut short the life of our Iroko. We will stay faithful to that course that you stood for. ASUU will not rest until the perpetrators are brought to book”.
Dr Bisi Olawuyi, who recalled his last conversation with the slain Professor, stated that the late Iroko will forever live in the forest of “our hearts. This iroko has not fallen. He forever lives in the forest of our hearts. The assailants may have done their worst, but he lives on. In the staff club, he lived on in our hearts. Why are we dejected? I shared a personal relationship with Iroko in one of my last conversations with him. I told him, “Olori-ebi e maa se daadaa”.
And he replied, “Bisi ma je ki n se daadaa nitori igi to ba to kii pe nigbo”. If I shed tears, it’s not because I lost someone. In iroko, you have a trusted friend, a dependable ally. We will meet on the other side, Olori-ebi”, he said.
Dr T. Afolabi who represented the Forestry Association of Nigeria on the occasion, said that late Professor Ajewole contributed immensely to the association, igniting their conferences with his unique deliveries. “It was never my plan to be here to see this. Iroko never merited this from me or the FAN family. He was unique. The children he left behind will carry on. He was a brother and I am going to miss him. I will miss his smiles. Our conferences were ignited by Iroko. It is pathetic and sorrowful. I called him the day he was killed. I have a message for those who killed him: Those who kill by the sword, will die by sword”.
In his sermon, Pastor Samson Ajetumobi of Men of Issachar Vision, Ibadan, said Ajewole’s life was cut short at his prime time. He emphasized that those who planned and killed the deceased would also die by the gun because blood of the deceased would get revenge.
“It is okay to die because it is price human beings have to pay, but it is not okay to kill because it is purnishable before God and men. God determines our days. When you read through the scripture, you will see that dying is okay, but killing is bad. God hates anyone who sheds blood of the innocent. Nobody owns life. If a man killed, he will account for it”, he said.
Dignitaries at the event included: the Vice Chancellor (VC) of University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Kayode Adebowale; Registrar, Mr. J.O. Saliu; Pro Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, Prof. Deji Omole; Director General of Forest Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN), Prof. Zachariah Buba Yaduma; and the Provost, Federal College of Forestry, Ibadan, Prof. Funmi Aderonmu, among others.
