* Late Professor Olaofe
By Emmanuel Onwusoro, Ado Ekiti
Saturday August 3, 2024
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A community self-help group, Are-Ekiti Development Association(ÀRÉDAA) has declared a 3-day of mourning for the death of a former deputy vice-chancellor of Ekiti State University, Professor Olorunfemi Olaofe, who died in kidnappers’ den and was found in a grave along new Afao- Airport road on Wednesday after he was kidnapped in his Ado Ekiti housing residence on the 9th July 2024.
ÀRÉDAA issued a press statement on Friday, 12 July 2024, calling the police and all security operatives in Ekiti State to ensure the safe return of one of its founding fathers and a member of the BoT who was abducted by unknown gunmen in his residence.
According to a statement signed by ÀRÉDAA’s Public Relations Officer, Hon. Odunayo Ehinafe, the association’s Secretary General Hon. Yemi Akinbode said ÀŔEDAA mourns the passing of the Are Ekiti icon and leader of thought, Professor Olurunfemi Olaofe who recently died in kidnappers’ Den along the new Airport road, where he was buried after he was killed by his abductors.
Akinbode also commiserated with the family of the late Professor Olaofe, especially his children, who were understood to have gone through a very difficult time and harrowing experience in attempts to rescue their father alive.
The statement read,” On behalf of the BoT, Executive Council, and ÀŔEDAA general assembly, we wish to mourn the passing of our icon and leader of thought, Professor Olorunfemi Olaofe, whose sad event took place on Wednesday 31st July 2004, when his corpse was found in the kidnappers’ Den. It is indeed a sad day for us in Are Ekiti, a sad day for Ekiti State and Nigeria as a whole.
We received the news of the death of Professor Olaofe with grief of heart and sorrow in our minds. We had patiently waited for the safe and sound return of our great leader, after he was kidnapped on the 9th of July 2024.
We had prayed to God, waiting fervently and hoping for his safe return and reunion with his family. We did not envisage that Professor Olaofe would eventually be killed by his abductors, even after they had collected a whooping ransom from the family.
At this juncture, and with all sense of submission, coupled with the theory surrounding his death, we want to place our hope in God. We believe in the biblical injunction that says, “It is God that gives life, and it is God that can take the life of any human”.
It may have pleased God to allow the abductors to succeed in taking his life at this material time. If so, who are we mortals to question the wisdom of God?
Professor Olaofe has run a good race; he has fought a good fight. All we can wish him is that God almighty, in his infinite mercy, will accept his gentle soul to dwell amongst the Saints in the heavens.
We want to also use this opportunity to commiserate with his family, for the great and painful loss. May the good Lord grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.
Speaking further, Akinbode reiterated the urgent need for the Police and other security operatives in Ekiti State to work tirelessly to ensure the perpetrators of the heinous crime are brought to Justice. He appealed to the Ekiti State Government to be more proactive in terms of security of lives and property. We must be proactive in terms of response and management of security breaches in the state.
The kidnap and eventual death of Professor Olaofe, a former deputy vice-chancellor of EKSU, 23 days after he was kidnapped from his residence in Ado Ekiti, speaks volumes about the worsening security situation in Ekiti State.
‘May we remind ourselves as a people, that one of the key duties of government is the security of lives and property. The government of Ekiti must, therefore, rise to its responsibility for the security of the citizens.
The circumstance that surrounds the death of Professor Olaofe should worry all of us. If a highly placed Professor can die like that, we wonder what the situation would hold for the ordinary citizen. We want to use this medium to call on the Police to ensure the perpetrators of this act are brought to justice” the statement concluded.
Professor Olorunfemi Olaofe was born in 1945 in Are Ekiti. He attended Are/Afao United Primary School from 1952 to 1959. He attended Christ’s school Ado-Ekiti and Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti, for his secondary education (1962-69).
Professor Olaofe later attended the University of Ibadan from 1970 to 1974 for his First Degree and the University of Escadee Holland for his Master’s Degree between 1975/76.
He obtained his Ph.D from the University of Bath, United Kingdom, between 1978 and 1983.
One unique thing that is worthy of note about Professor Oloaofe’s life history is that because of lack of money, he dropped out of Christ’s School Ado Ekiti to become a radio repair technician/apprentice before he later joined Ekiti Parapo College, Ido-Ekiti in January 1967 where he eventually completed his secondary school, education.
He is survived by 4 children, 3 male and 1 female
Encl
Hon. Yemi Akinbode
Secretary-General
ÀRÉDAA
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