The Vice Chancellor-designate of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, SAN, has expressed shock over the sudden death of the institution’s Pro-Chancellor and Governing Council Chairman, Mallam Abidu Yazid, saying, “The news was confounding, confusing and totally unbelievable”.
In a statement made available to newsmen on Friday, Professor Egbewole dislosed that his shock stemmed from the fact that only a day to Mallam Yazid’s demise, they had a prolonged phone chart in which they “discussed extensively on the need to organise a befitting valedictory programme in honour of the outgoing Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem.”
The Vice Chancellor-designate, whose appointment was announced by the late Mallam Yazid on September 8, 2022, said, “The late Chairman graciously approved my proposal”, which, he described as “another act of the Chairman’s magnanimity” but which, regrettably, he would no longer be around to consummate “as the will of Allah has been done in this case.”
Professor Egbewole, who is also a member of the Governing Council, said, “I have had the very rare opportunity of sitting in Council with the late Chairman and wish to put on record the way he conducted proceedings depicting extreme candour, courage of conviction and always putting the University of Ilorin first.”
He said that the late Mallam Yazid was “a thoroughbred administrator, astute manager of human and material resources, and a firm believer in Almighty Allah. He was incorruptible, highly detribalised and a great thinker.”
The Vice Chancellor-designate pointed out that for all the times he interacted with the late Mallam Yazid on the floor of Council, “he remained focused, determined and highly committed to the assignment.”
Prof. Egbewole recalled that during the visit of the Governing Council to the Governor of Katsina State in September last year, Governor Aminu Masari “described the late Governing Council Chairman in flowery terms and counted University of Ilorin extremely lucky to have him.”
The Vice Chancellor-designate said, “As painful as the demise is, we are consoled that the late Mallam Yazid used the opportunity to serve Allah, his creator, and he discharged the assignment as part of his divine worship (‘ibadah).
“May Allah be pleased with him, forgive his shortcomings and grant him Aljanah Firdaus. May Allah comfort the family and grant them the fortitude to bear this great and irreparable loss.”