The Federal University at Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has announced plans to honour Abubakar Abdullahi, the Imam who saved 262 Berom Christians from gunmen who attacked their village in Plateau States in June last year.
The conferment of the honour will hold during the university’s second convocation on Saturday.
FUOYE Vice Chancellor Prof Kayode Soremekun announced this at a media briefing ahead of the convocation.
He said Imam Abdullahi would be conferred with a doctoral degree alongside two others, Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Felix Ajakaiye and an American septuagenarian, Guy Gargiulo, a former head teacher in Akoko, Ondo State.
Soremekun said the trio deserve the honour because of their contributions to humanity.
He said: “As you would have noticed, the choice of these outstanding gentlemen was done without any bias for materialism, favouritism or nepotism or some selfish desires. We have allowed integrity, patriotism, selflessness to guide our sense of judgment in giving the honorary awards.
“This the university is doing by honouring three outstanding personalities, including 86-year-old Imam Abubakar Abdullahi, who saved 262 Christians that would have been killed by insurgents in northern Nigeria; Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Felix Ajakaiye and an American septuagenarian, Guy Gargiuilo, a school principal, who dedicated over 60 years of his live teaching and moulding destinies of Nigerian youngsters in Akoko, Ondo State.” The vice chancellor said 1,000 students will graduate during the convocation..
He said among them are 35 students who made First Class in the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 academic sessions.
In all, 366 made Second Class Upper degrees; 472 had Second Class Lower degrees; 119 had Third Class degrees, while eight made Pass.
The convocation will also feature a public lecture, titled: Anticipating the Birthday Boy, Options and Possibilities for a Besieged Nation at 60, to be delivered today by Prof Tony Afejuku, a Public Affairs analyst and Professor of English language at the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Edo State.
