Get Guardian on GoogleThe Management of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has expressed deep sorrow over the death of its former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Wale Omole, who died yesterday evening.
The university described his death as a significant loss to the Great Ife community, Nigeria’s university system and the wider academic community, citing his contributions to scholarship, university administration and the development of higher education in the country.
In a statement issued by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, OAU described Omole as an accomplished scholar and distinguished administrator whose legacy remains an important part of the institution’s history.
Omole served as the university’s Vice-Chancellor between 1991 and 1999, a period the institution said formed a significant chapter in its pursuit of academic excellence, institutional development and the preservation of its reputation as one of Nigeria’s foremost centres of higher learning.
The university said his death offered an opportunity to reflect on the responsibilities of university leadership and the enduring legacies of those who had shaped the institution.
It added that Omole belonged to a distinguished succession of university leaders whose contributions helped define the identity, traditions and aspirations of Great Ife.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire, who conveyed the university’s condolences on behalf of the Governing Council, Management, Senate, staff, students, alumni and the entire university community, commiserated with Omole’s immediate family, friends, associates and other mourners.
Bamire said although the former vice-chancellor’s earthly journey had ended, his contributions to OAU and the wider academic community would remain part of the institution’s enduring history.
He prayed that God would grant the bereaved family the strength to bear the loss and give the departed academic eternal rest.
“Professor Wale Omole may have taken his final bow, but his place in the history of Great Ife remains indelible,” the statement said.
May his soul rest in perfect peace.
