Brother Adeshina:
Sorry oo, for your heavy loss back home, as we mourn with you! By the way, do you still stop by the roadside to give strangers (or "hapless people") rides, anywhere? When it comes to giving rides to needy people I call strangers, my old wise Yoruba landlord, Baba Ijebu, would say: "No way, unless over my dead body!" A great principle I now use when it comes to real strangers seeking such rides!!!
Example #1: I gave a ride to one of my former students years ago; it was threatening to rain, and I saw her under a small shed at a bus stop. Where she was going was way out of or far from my normal route when going home, but I tried to be a Good Samaritan, or "Mr. Good Man", as Baba Ijebu would say. Upon reaching her apartment, I tried to go closer to the building because it was then raining heavily. In the process, I even slightly dented the front of my car. The young woman opened the front door of the passenger side and, before storming out in anger, she said: "I don't know how you damn foreigners get money to buy such nice cars, and we don't have any cars..." It was an old Volvo, nothing fanciful, by the way! She forgot that I was not a student like herself, but her former professor!
Example #2: Another episode was after my evening class, when it was dark, at night, and I agreed to a request to give a ride to another student, this time a young guy. He instantly started: "Professor A.B., I am in a financial problem. I need money to pay my fee arrears in order to take my final exams. Can you help me?" I asked how he wanted me to help him. "Well, if you hit the pole on the roadside, we can make insurance claim," he told me, smiling, but pointing to a pole nearby. "Is that not insurance fraud?" I asked him. "Oh, never mind. I forgot that you are also dog-gone ordained Baptist minister. too bad," he said very disrespectfully before he slammed the door of my car to get out, as if I owed him anything, but with no thank you, dog! Of course, there are some other uglier examples!!!
These young people were not foreigners, mind you! When I narrated the episodes to my wife (herself an American woman), we made a pact never ever for us to give rides to ungrateful strangers, students or not.
Maybe, with poverty abound or prevalent back home (in Africa), one may understand such callous behaviors, when exhibited. But why here also, in the land of affluence? It simply seems to be human nature for some people to be beastly, cruel or callous whenever they get ready, hence the poor will be poorer and the rich richer. Amen?
Look at Professor ILEMOBADE's sad end. Well, for me to continue to live, I live by the axioms of Baba ijebu, who never had half of the education some of us have, no more by my own "book long", as he used to describe our doctorates and other professional degrees!!! Always in solidarity with Baba Ijebu!!!!
A.B. Assensoh, Chongqing, South of China.
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2015 4:22 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com; usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Prof Ilemobade's killers must face full wrath of law —Mimiko
| The question you now ask is: What's kindness' worth again? Would I still be motivated to be good to other when in actual fact they're intending to drain that milk of kindness from your heart?
I witnessed this sort of beastly behaviour in 2000 at Kaduna. That was the period when the ethnic and religious fervour was at its height. A man was killed by the rampaging Hausa youths, and he was fingered by his mai-guard who has a small shop in front of the house to augment his salary. He told them his "Oga" was inside.
When I heard the news of Prof. ILEMOBADE'S death and the manner it came about, it was as if my heart stopped.
Can I still stop my car by the roadside to pick hapless people caught in the rain? Am I still permitted by the principles of civility and courtesy to play the good Samaritan? Shouldn't I just temper my "bowel of compassion" with cold and suspicious realism?
Adeshina Afolayan Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android
| From:"Folu Ogundimu" <ogundimu3@gmail.com>
Date:Wed, 1 Jul, 2015 at 1:23 pm
Subject:Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Prof Ilemobade's killers must face full wrath of law —Mimiko
Ms. FT:
I am so sorry for your loss and for Nigeria's loss. May your uncle's soul rest in peace, his memory edified, your family comforted. May you bear the loss with grace and dignity.
Best regards F.
Sent from my iPhone Prof. Obi:
Thank you very much. Prof. Ilemobade was my maternal uncle. At this point, I'm heartbroken and sad. From the timeline provided by the killers, I realized that my chat with my uncle on Father's Day was couple of hours before he was killed. I called to wish him Happy Father's Day, and to ascertain that he was enjoying reading the book, The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa by Lugard, that I sent to him. The family is heartbroken. I'm still tempted to call his phone number...
Funmi
On Jul 1, 2015, at 12:07 AM, Nnaemeka, Obioma G wrote: I am in Abuja seething with anger as I watch on television the confession of the two scumbags that slaughtered this eminent Nigerian, Professor Albert Ilemobade, in his own home and left his body to decompose in a store while they made away with his car. Professor Ilemobade was their employer and what he got for his kindness was premature death. No punishment is adequate for these two hoodlums, Daniel and Olayemi. It is disheartening to witness the utter contempt we have here for human life. In addition to the Boko Haram mayhem, we are faced with weekly slaughter of Nigerians by trailers and petrol tankers that slam into markets, buses and motor parks. Last week, eighteen promising students of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, were taken from us when a trailer, going the wrong way, ran into their bus. Few weeks earlier, a petrol tanker veered into a busy Onitsha market, caught fire and roasted scores of Nigerians to death. Sad. Very sad indeed. Obi Obioma Nnaemeka, PhD Chancellor's Distinguished Professor
President, Association of African Women Scholars (AAWS)
Dept. of World Languages & Cultures Phone: 317-278-2038; 317-274-0062 (messages)
Cavanaugh Hall 543A Fax: 317-278-7375 Indianapolis, IN 46202 USA
http://tribuneonlineng.com/node/9663
THE Ondo state governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, on Tuesday, assured family of former vice chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure ( FUTA), Professor Albert Ilemobade that the perpetrators of the gruesome murder would not go unpunished. Mimiko, who stated this during his visit to the house of the deceased in Ijapo Estate in Akure, Ondo state capital, described the late don as a man who devoted his entire life to the service of humanity. The governor, who was accompanied by member of the Ondo State Executive, Director of State Security Services, Christian Ojobor, representative of the state Commissioner of Police, among others, said the deceased lived a life worthy of celebration. He frowned on the manner the former vice chancellor was killed, even as he commended the efforts of the security agents in the state, for getting to the root of the incident. The governor, who later visited the store where the corpse of the deceased was kept by the culprits, enjoined people to always look into the profile and details of whoever they employed as their domestic workers. Responding on behalf of the family, the deceased first son, Adesola Ilemobade appreciated the governor and his team for the visit and called for justice, describing the death of his father as a great loss He described his father as a great man who left a great impact and heritage that would be followed by his children.
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