Ethiopian Airlines Crash: Unilorin plans candlelight procession for Adesanmi

The University of Ilorin said it will organise a candlelight procession for one of its alumni, Prof. Pius Adesanmi, who died aboard the Boeing 737 Max–8 that crashed penultimate Sunday.

A statement signed by the Director, Corporate Affairs of the University, Kunle Akogun, on Saturday said the candlelight procession would be organised by the Faculty of Arts, on Tuesday March 19.

The university described the death of Prof. Adesanmi as a colossal loss to the country and humanity in general.

He said that the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Sulyman Abdulkareem, also described the late professor of Literature and African Studies as “a true nationalist and a rare patriot.”

He said that Adesanmi graduated from the University of Ilorin in 1992 with a First Class honours degree in French.

The Vice Chancellor described the deceased as a humanist and an embodiment of all the ideals that Unilorin represents.

Abdulkareem lamented that Adesanmi’s death came at a time when the nation needed his robust intellectual and incisive contribution to its development most.

“The country had benefitted immensely from the late Professor’s dispassionate interventions through well-researched social commentaries on national issues at critical points of its socio-political and economic development.

“Being a committed nationalist, the late Adesanmi was never happy at the state of rot in critical sectors of the nation.

“He never kept quiet nor indulged in complacency, as many of his colleagues who had found comfortable solace abroad,” he said.

Akogun quoted the VC as saying, that less than 24 hours before his demise, the patriotic zeal in the late social critic was evident on his Twitter handle, where he was still discussing the then ongoing governorship and State House of Assembly elections in the country.

“While commiserating with the entire nation, especially the immediate family the late don left behind, the Vice-Chancellor urged Nigerians not to allow Prof. Adesanmi die in vain.

“Nigerians should emulate his patriotic zeal toward taking the country to greater heights.”

Adesanmi an indigene of Isanlu in Kogi, was former staff of Unilorin.

He was a lecturer at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, before his death in a plane crash on Sunday, March 10, 2019 at 47.

… researchers explore alternative dispute resolution for Kwara communities

Researchers from the Faculty of Arts, University of Ilorin, have vowed to explore alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to bring lasting peace to two warring communities in Kwara.

The research team leader, who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Prof. Oyeronke Olademo, made this known, during a recent familiarisation tour of two communities in the state, Share and Tsaragi, prior to the commencement of the research work.

Olademo, who made this known, while briefing the traditional rulers of both communities on the mission of the team, said that the researchers in the faculty were poised to wade into the communal clashes of the two communities.

He said that this would help in resolving the conflict through the use of alternative conflict resolution mechanisms, which the faculty believed would be more potent in curtailing the menace than frequently resorting to litigation.

Olademo said that the researchers found it necessary to interact with the elderly people in the warring communities to explore the stories, myths and songs of the communities in arriving at logical conclusion in the research and use it to solve the lingering crisis between the concerned communities.

He said that the team leader, who expressed dissatisfaction with the use of western ideologies in resolving the communal clash between the towns, said that the panacea to the problems of the two communities would be resolved.

Olademo disclosed that the research tools to be adopted include administration of questionnaire meant for large population, interview of some selected people and town hall meetings.

The Professor of Comparative Religions, who acknowledged different measures taken by the government to put an end to the perennial clashes, maintained that the research proved that there still existed feud and discord in the communities.

In his response, the Olupako of Share, Oba Abubakar Garba, expressed his happiness over the interest of the researchers on the issue and invoked God to endow the research team with a resounding success.

Revealing the background to the communal clashes between Share and Tsaragi, the Etsu of Tsaragi, represented by the Makama of the land, Alhaji Muhammad Buhari, said that the

clash between the two communities “is a recent development which started in 1978?.

“The Etsu, who disclosed that their forefathers stayed together for a very long period without any feud, aligned himself with the use of internal mechanisms in halting the incessant clashes between the two communities.

He promised that his community would give unalloyed support to the team.