29th October, 2022
A former Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Ibadan, Professor Adigun Agbaje has been kidnapped.
Agbaje, who is said to be currently on sabbatical at Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), was on his way to Ibadan from Lagos.
He was reportedly blocked by the kidnappers very close to the Sat Guru Maharaji Garden at about 6 pm on Friday.
According to the information gathered from a UI source by FIJ, the kidnappers eliminated some policemen around the scene before making away with the professor.
The abductors have since contacted the Agbaje family to demand a N50million ransom.
Agbaje, a professor of Political Science, was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in charge of academic matters between 2006 and 2010 at the University of Ibadan.
He earned his B.Sc (Honours) degree in Political Science at the same university with First Class in 1979 after which he obtained his M.Sc degree in Mass Communications with distinctions from the University of Lagos in 1981.
He went back to UI to obtain his PhD in Political Science in 1988 also with distinctions.
He became a Professor of Political Science at Ibadan in 1998 and was Dean of the Faculty of the Social Sciences between 2003 and 2005.
Adigun Agbaje, who is also a brilliant journalist is one of UI’s most respected lecturers who is loved by majority his students.
According to records, he was, for decades only First Class first degree holder in the university’s department of Political Science, before Tunde Oseni, currently, an Associate Professor at Lead City University, Ibadan, broke the record in the 2000s.
The professor also served as Director, the Centre for Social Science Research and Development, Lagos, where he directed a Ford Foundation-funded project on positive leadership in Nigeria.
He was the founding Director-General of Obafemi Awolowo Institute for Government and Public Policy, Lagos.
According to his biography published by the Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona Institute for Governance Studies, Adigun Agbaje has held many visiting appointments, including Visiting Commonwealth Fellow (1991-92) and Visiting Researcher (June-July 2019) at the University of Oxford and Visiting USIA Scholar, Trans-regional Centre for Democratic Studies, New School for Social Research, New York (1998); Visiting Professor, University of Lagos.
Others are visiting USIA Fellow, Graduate Faculty, Centre (then) New School for Social Research, New York, and Visiting Professor and Provost, College of Management and Social Sciences, Bowen University, Iwo (2021).
He is currently Director General, Oba (Dr.) Sikiru Kayode Adetona Institute for Governance Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye.