Ex-FUTA VC Ilemobade’s children: Our father was unusually happy few days to his death

Ex-FUTA VC Ilemobade’s children: Our father was unusually happy few days to his death

THE murder of former Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Prof. Albert Ilemobade, will go down as one of the most callous in the history of Ondo State, particularly Akure, the capital. There had been no previous reports of a man of the age and status of the former university don being strangled to death.
Concerned family members and symphatisers had embarked on marathon prayers for God to touch the minds of his abductors when the news first filtered out penultimate Monday that the retired academic had been abducted by some unknown persons. Eager to see her husband return home, Ilemobade’s aged widow, Mrs. Olakitan Ilemobade (73) had promised to find any amount demanded as ransome by his captors. Unknown to her, the late academic’s body was decaying inside the abandoned store within their white-coated building in Ijapo Estate, Akure.

Before the late professor’s body was detected, Olakitan said she was inside the house sleeping when those she thought were kidnappers entered the house and took her husband away. According to her, she woke up only to discover that her husband was nowhere to be found while the car he parked inside the compound had also disappeared. The gate man was also nowhere to be found.
She said: “When I got to the gate of the house, I discovered that it had been locked and our vehicle had been taken away. That is all I can remember or say about the ugly incident.”
She said the car reported to have been abandoned along Ijare Road in Ifedore Local Government Area of the state was not the late VC’s car, adding that the suspects took him away in a Toyota RAV 4 SUV, which had not been found at the time.
About seven days later, the corpse of the 79-year-old professor of Veterinary Medicine was discovered inside his store, causing relations and sympathisers to weep and mourn. Friends, associates and kinsmen of the late professor have continued to throng his residence on Ijapo Estate, Akure.
Many of them were heard raining curses on the killers of their benefactor, who they said was too nice to be killed in such horrible circumstances. Ilemobade’s residence turned into a Mecca of sort as people from Akure and other parts of the state tried to catch a glimpse of the scene of the gruesome murder. They wore mournful looks as they discussed the incident in hushed tones.
The family and church members have also made an appeal to the police and other security agencies in the country not to allow the killing of the late professor to be swept under the carpet. They described the death of the septuagenarian academic as too painful, hence the appeal for quick investigation into his killing and subsequent dispensation of justice on those found guilty in the murder case.
The Ondo State Commissioner of Police, Mr Isaac Eke, assured the family during a chat with newsmen at the State Police Command, that Ilemobade’s killers would face the full wrath of the law. Eke also noted that the suspected killers of the late Ilemobade had confirmed to the police their involvement in the death of the late university don, adding that the law would take its full course in the case.
Describing the suspected killers of the late professor as evil minded people, the police boss said they should not be allowed to live among human beings, hence the determination of the state Police command to ensure that justice is done promptly in the matter.
Eke, who described the incident as traumatic and sad, described it as another dimension to criminal acts in the country, assuring that the police would ensure that the two suspects arrested in connection with the murder case, who were domestic employees of the deceased, were made to face the music
He warned other criminals in the state, saying there would be no hiding place for them in the state.
Adesola, a professor and eldest son of the deceased who is based in South Africa, said the family was yet to come to terms with the death of the patriarch of the Ilemobade family. According to him, “We do not know why he could have been killed in such circumstance, as he was very generous to those that worked with him, especially the driver and his security guard who have both confessed to killing him.”
Adesola recalled that the last conversation he had with his late father occurred during the last Fathers’ Day, which he said the deceased celebrated in style.
He said: “Papa’s (Ilemobade’s) last public function was the Father’s Day where, according to him, he played active roles in all the church activities and had personal discussions with all his children after he returned from church.
“He specifically told me and my other siblings who came around to celebrate Fathers’ Day with him that he was happy. When we asked him why, he said he could not explain the cause of his joy but just felt happy and highly excited. He said he was too happy and could not hide his joy. He expressed his joy to everyone that came around him both in the church and at home that Sunday.”
The only daughter of the deceased, Mrs Tolulade Ozigbo, also described her late father as a disciplinarian, stressing that the family has lost a gem and that the vacuum left by the deceased would be very difficult to fill by any member of the family.
She recalled growing up under the tutelage of her late father, saying: “My father was a disciplinarian who would ensure that we all woke up by 6 am for family devotion, whether we liked it or not. He was too much to be missed. Nobody can say any bad thing about him, not even those who worked with him in all the places he worked, including FUTA.”
The youngest child of the deceased, Adeseni Ilemobade, who expressed regrets on the death of his father, said the deceased’s former driver and one of the suspects arrested for his killing had during the last Easter misbehaved.
He recalled that “when daddy travelled to Ondo, our home town, for the last Easter celebration, the driver suddenly disappeared while service was going on. After the service, Daddy could not find the driver and the car in the church premises. He reported the case to the police and after some days, the driver was arrested and the car was found. But daddy, after a while, accepted the plea of the driver. Now,the driver has done his worst by eliminating him.” He described the alleged action of the driver as vengeance, stressing that “the driver later came back on revenge mission. But we thank God our father lived a life well spent in the service of God and humanity. He was a man everybody would like to come across and these make us happy as his children who are also growing in his counsel.”
Notwithstanding the circumstances surrounding the death of Ilemobade, the family said a befitting burial would be given to the late professor, stressing that “no matter the way he left, we are still going to celebrate him as a hero that he was.”
Adesola, eldest son of the deceased, said: “Regardless of the circumstances that surrounded his exit (death), our late father will be given a befitting burial. The family is already meeting and planning on the date of the burial,” he said, adding that “our late father will be celebrated by the family whenever we agree to bury him.”
Also, the Vicar-in-Charge of Vinning College of Theology, Akure where the deceased attended before his death, Dr Ayodeji Fagbemi, said: “We have lost a very great scholar and it is just too wicked for a man of his caliber to have been killed this way. It is a terrible thing and I believe that those behind this killing will not go unpunished.”
He called on the government and the police to ensure that the killers of Ilemobade face the music, saying the case should not be swept under the carpet, just as he called on the judiciary to give accelerated hearing to the case for the world to have confidence in the judiciary.
Ilemobade’s suspected killers were arrested in Ogun State and, after interrogation by security agents, it was discovered that the two suspects confessed to the killing of Ilemobade, hiding his corpse in a store that housed the generator before running away with his vehicle, which they planned to sell. This led to their transfer to the Ondo State Police Command.
One of the suspects, Bamitale, a 36-year-old man who claimed to be an indigene of Ekiti State, had during interrogation said he stopped working as a driver with Prof Ilemobade about four months ago when he attempted to steal a car belonging to his boss, adding that Daniel, who was also a domestic staff of the late university don, contacted him a few weeks ago and told him that he had consulted his herbalist on how to steal the car without running into trouble.
Narrating how they killed Prof. Ilemobade, he said: “After he had told me about his herbalist on the phone, Daniel asked me to come to the House at Ijapo Estate on Sunday by 9p.m. When I got to the place, he told me that he had met his herbalist who told him that if we wanted to take the car, we must ensure that we killed Prof and that he must take away some sand from that house so that there won’t be any problem after we might have killed him. “
His words: “When I asked him how we were going to kill Prof who was already sleeping outside, Daniel said he would lure him to the security room by telling him that there was a power surge, and from there, we would strangle him to death. We would then be able to enter into his room and take whatever we wanted.
“He went into the sitting room of Prof and called him that there was a power surge, and Baba passed through the kitchen to the security room. It was there that we grabbed his neck until he stopped breathing. We took him to a store beside his car park and dumped his body there, We put a picture on his chest so that if the body was later found, they would think that it was those who killed him that dropped the picture.
“When we entered his room, we saw the car key and N7,000 with his laptop and two phones. Daniel locked the gate from outside and we went away with the Rav 4 Toyota car. When we were about leaving his residence at Ijapo Estate, in Akure, we met some police officers who passed by us thinking that Prof had sent us out.
“We slept at Alagbaka area of Akure because Daniel’s brother, who lived at Arakale in Akure, refused to pick his phone. The following morning, Daniel asked us to take the car to Calabar, but I told him that the N7,000 with us was not enough to buy fuel to take us to Calabar. We agreed to take the Car to Lagos, but the people I know in Lagos did not agree that I should bring the car to them.
“We left the place for Ijebu-Ode. It was then that FRSC officers arrested us, saying that we did`n’t have the car documents. They took the car to a nearby police station where we were directed to pay N3,000 at First Bank.
“There was no money on us again, and when it was the second day, we took the laptop and the two phones to Epe so as to get buyers in order to secure the release of the car.
“When Daniel saw one of his kinsmen, the guy agreed to buy the phones and he gave us N3,000 so that we could secure the release of the seized car. I went to First bank to pay the money and we took the teller to the FRSC. We were given a letter which we took to the police station and they released the car to us.”
Meanwhile the remains of the late Ilemobade were still in the morgue at press time and may be buried as soon as the family concludes arrangements for the burial rites. It was learnt that the church and the family had met on how to give the late Ondo born academic a befitting burial.
Efforts to speak with Mrs Ilemobade were futile as her children and symphatisers insisted that the septuagenarian widow had been advised against making comments on the incident probably because of age factor or mood of the moment.
Shortly after her husband’s corpse was found in the store room, she had pleaded with the police to bring the suspects to her in order to give her opportunity of asking five questions from them on why they killed his long time companion and bread winner.
However, it could not be ascertained whether the Commissioner of Police acceded to Mrs Ilemobade’s request before the two suspects were remanded in prison awaiting trial.