Abdulganiyu Ambali, ex-UNILORIN VC, dies at 68

By Samuel Solomon

Abdulganiyu Ambali, former vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin, is dead.

This was confirmed in a statement on Saturday by Kunle Akogun, the university’s director of corporate affairs who said Wahab Olasupo Egbewole, vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin, announced Ambali’s passing.

The statement said Ambali, renowned veterinary medicine scholar and 9th vice-chancellor of the university, died in the early hours of Saturday at his residence in Oloje estate, Ilorin.

“Professor Ambali, who headed the university from 2012 to 2017, died earlier this morning after a brief illness. He was 68,” the statement reads.

“The death of Prof. Ambali, according to the vice chancellor, is a huge loss not only to the University of Ilorin and the Kwara state university, Malete, which he currently serves as pro-chancellor, but also to the entire nation and humanity.

“Professor Egbewole, who has sympathised with the family of the great scholar and the people of the Ilorin emirate, enjoined sympathisers, particularly members of the UNILORIN community, to attend the Janazah for the late ex-vice chancellor at his Oloje housing estate, Ilorin, by 4.pm today, Saturday, June 6, 2026.”

Ambali was the chairman and pro-chancellor of Kwara state university, before his demise.

The late academic was born on November 29, 1957, in Ilorin, Kwara state, where he began his education at Pakata primary school before attending Government Secondary School, Jalingo.

He obtained his doctor of veterinary medicine degree from Ahmadu Bello University in 1981 and later earned a master’s and doctor of philosophy degrees in veterinary medicine from the University of Liverpool.

He taught at the University of Maiduguri before joining the University of Ilorin, where he rose through the ranks to become professor of veterinary medicine and pioneer dean of the faculty of veterinary medicine.