Following the death of a deputy registrar of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Dr Amos Arijesuyo, the management of the institution is set to liaise with the security agencies in the state and neighbouring Osun State to make the Ibadan-Ilesa-Akure Expressway safe for travellers.
Arijesuyo, who worked at the Guidance and Counselling section of the Students’ Affairs Department of the university, was attacked by gunmen alongside his driver and one other unidentified person.
According to a source in the institution, the planned meeting with the security agencies is to ensure that the expressway is safe and to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
The source said, “In fact, the university will soon meet with the police, the DSS and other security agencies in the two states to see how the Ibadan-Ilesa-Akure Expressway will be safe for our visitors, staff and students, because that is the major road being taken by our people; we don’t want anything to happen to our people again.
“The death of the deputy registrar is a shock to the entire university community and we don’t want such to happen again; that is why the school management is planning to meet with the security agencies.”
The source added that the university management team would also meet with the family of the deceased deputy registrar to come up with befitting burial arrangements for him.
The management of the university, in statement issued on Monday by the Deputy Director, Corporate Communications, Mr Adegbenro Adebanjo, disclosed that Arijesuyo died as a result of the injuries he sustained during the attack.
In the statement titled: ‘FUTA condemns killing of its deputy registrar’, the institution described Arijesuyo’s death as shocking.
The statement read in part, “The Federal University of Technology Akure, with deep regret and pain, announces the demise of one of its deputy registrars, Dr Amos Arijesuyo, Head, Guidance and Counselling Unit, Students’ Affairs Division, who died on Saturday, January 16, 2021. Dr Arijesuyo died of injuries from the gunshot wounds he suffered when his private vehicle was attacked along the Ilesa-Akure Road in the evening of Saturday, January 16, 2021.
“Dr Arijesuyo was returning to Akure from a trip to Ibadan when his vehicle ran into an ambush laid by gunmen, who were operating on the road around 5.30pm. The bandits shot at the vehicle, targeting the five occupants. Unfortunately, some of the bullets hit Dr Arijesuyo and the driver. The driver managed to drive the vehicle away from the scene of the attack and concerted efforts were made to seek immediate medical help.
“However, Dr Arijesuyo succumbed to the fatal injuries from the gunshots he suffered during the hellish encounter, while the driver is recuperating in a hospital.
“Dr Arijesuyo’s death is a big loss to FUTA, the academic community in Nigeria and beyond. It is a death that should not have happened in the first place. It is the hope of the management, staff and students of FUTA that security agencies will go after the evil men, who carried out the dastardly act and make them face the full weight of the law and just recompense for their heinous crime.”
Punch
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