Salau, second left at his swearing-in by Jonathan on 7 January, 2015

Prof. Muritala Akinola Salau, INEC National Commissioner, representing South West, has died at 67.

Salau, a former Vice Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Ogbomoso, died at Turkish Hospital in Abuja after a brief illness on Saturday.

He was buried according to Islamic rites at the Muslim Cemetery, Moniya, Ibadan, on Sunday evening.

His corpse arrived at the Ibadan airport at 4.15 p.m. where the Janazah (funeral) prayers.

The prayer was witnessed by his immediate family members, INEC officials, members of the academic community, Islamic clerics, Muslim groups and other sympathisers.

The corpse was later led to the cemetery in a long convoy where he was buried amidst prayers.

An in-law to the deceased, Alhaji Ishaq Sanni, who also doubles as the Chairman, Muslim Community of Oyo state, described his death as painful, as he was always concerned about people’s welfare.

Sanni said the Muslim community would miss him greatly because of his exemplary leadership qualities and kindness to the people.

Speaking in the same vein, a colleague of the deceased at INEC, Prof. Lai Olurode, said his death was a sad and personal loss to him as the two of them are from both the academic community and South West.

Olurode said he was with the deceased in Abuja before he took ill where he spoke as if he knew he was going to die soon.

Salau was born on Nov. 21, 1947, in Ibadan, Oyo state.

He attended Islamic High School, Orita Bashorun, Ibadan on Western Region Scholarship between 1960 and 1964, and proceeded to University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Osun State to study Physics on Federal Government Scholarship where he graduated in 1971.

His passion for education took him to Stanford University Palo –Alto, California, USA, where he obtained his Master of Science and Ph. D degrees in Applied Physics in 1974 and 1976, respectively.

He was Sole Administrator, LAUTECH from June 15, 1997, to July 5, 1999, Acting Vice Chancellor of the LAUTECH on July 6, 1999, and he was confirmed as substantive Vice Chancellor on May 23, 2000, where he was till May 22, 2005.

Salau was sworn-in by former President Goodluck Jonathan on Jan. 7, 2015, as INEC National Commissioner, representing the South West, the position he held till his demise.

A devoted Muslim, the deceased was survived with wife and children.