The academic community of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, has been plunged into mourning following the sudden death of Professor Jimoh Olanipekun Famakinwa of the Department of Philosophy.
In a statement released yesterday, the university’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, disclosed that Professor Famakinwa passed away during a departmental meeting on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.
According to the statement, Famakinwa began breathing abnormally during the meeting, prompting his colleagues to rush him to the University Health and Medical Centre. Despite prompt medical attention, he was referred to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), where he was pronounced “brought in dead.”
Reacting to the incident, the Vice Chancellor, Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire, led a condolence visit to the professor’s widow and children. Expressing shock and disbelief, Bamire described Famakinwa as a brilliant scholar whose sudden death was a great loss to the university.
He urged the family to take solace in the positive impact the professor had on those around him, adding, “As Christians, we should know that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away as He pleases.”
The Vice Chancellor also prayed for strength for the bereaved family, the Department of Philosophy, the Faculty of Arts, and the entire university community to bear the loss.
Meanwhile, the professor’s body has been deposited at the university’s Department of Anatomy.