Vice Chancellor of the Kwara State University (KWASU), Prof. Mustapha Akanbi, was buried on Monday at his residence in Tanke, Ilorin.
The ‘janazah’ (burial prayer), however, took place at his father’s residence in GRA and was led by the Chief Imam of Ilorin, Alhaji Muhammad Bashir Soliu.
The road leading to the Akanbi family house from the Kwara Government House was totally locked down with the influx of people and vehicles who came to pay their last respect to the legal icon.
Dignitaries that attended the prayer included Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, members of the State Executive Council, Grand Khadi of Ilorin, Justice Abdullatif Kamaldeen, and state APC Chairman, Prince Sunday Fagbemi.
Other dignitaries included the JAMB Registrar, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede; Registrar of Kwara State High Court of Justice, Ibijoke Olawoyin; members of the academic community; members of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Islamic organisations and Islamic scholars.
Akanbi died on Sunday evening at the age of 51, after a protracted illness.
Akanbi was born in 1971 into the family of late Hon. Justice Muhammed Mustapha Akanbi, and late Hajia Munfaatu Aduke Akanbi.
He hailed from the Ile Magaji Kemberi, Awodi, Gambari Quarters, Ilorin East of Kwara.
The late vice-chancellor graduated from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, with a Bachelor’s degree in law with second class division in 1993.
He attended the Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island Lagos, where he also bagged the second class upper division. He was called to bar in 1995.
Akanbi bagged a Master’s degree in law (LLM) in 1998 from the University of Lagos, Akoka.
Between 2004 and 2006, he attended the prestigious Kings College, University of London, United Kingdom, for his Doctorate degree in law (Ph.D), which he bagged in a record time of two years.
In August 1998, Akanbi joined the service of University of Ilorin as a Lecturer 2 in the Department of Business Law, Faculty of Law of Unilorin.
By dint of hard work and perseverance, he rose through the ranks and was appointed a Professor of Law in the Department of Business Law in October 2012.
He was appointed as KWASU VC in 2020 by the Kwara Government for a five-year tenure.
