The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan Chapter has called on the Inspector General of Police Alkali Baba to assist the Oyo state Police Command in apprehending the killers of Professor Opeyemi Isaac Ajewole. The Professor of forest economics and urban forestry was shot dead by unknown assailants on Monday, 5 June 2023, in Ibadan, Oyo State
In a statement signed by the Chairman UI Chapter of ASUU, Professor Ayo Akinwole, the Union urged President Bola Tinubu to take a keen interest in ensuring that the security system identifies the perpetrators of the murder. Akinwole stated that the only tribute befitting Ajewole’s death is for his killers to be brought to justice and for Nigerians’ lives to matter to the Tinubu Presidency.
“The Nigerian populace is constantly assailed by terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, assassination, hunger, unemployment, and many more insidious exterminators of our individual and collective dreams,” Akinwole said. “Professor Ajewole’s gruesome murder again reminds us of how valueless human lives have become in our clime.”
The ASUU boss further noted that Nigerian academics are often treated with scorn and shabbily by the Nigerian state and public despite their immense contributions to national growth and development. He lamented that academics who cultivate, preserve, and disseminate knowledge for the advancement and development of society have become victims of societal maladies to such an extent as to be targeted for elimination.
The Union called on the Nigerian government to resolutely tackle insecurity in the country, apprehend Ajewole’s killers, and punish them most appropriately. “This is the least tribute that this nation can pay to our fallen hero and friend- Professor Opeyemi Isaac Ajewole,” Akinwole said.