The military government led by General Muhammadu Buhari condemned Governor Ambrose Folorunsho Alli to 100 years in jail in 1984 for allegedly stealing N983,000 meant for a road project. Alli passed away five years later, on September 22, 1989, his 60th birthday. He was the driving force behind the founding of Bendel State University, which is now known as Ambrose Alli University in Ekpoma, Edo State.
Professor Alli outperformed Brig. Gen. Samuel Ogbe in terms of leadership when serving as the governor of the erstwhile Bendel State during General Buhari’s military rule. Among his achievements are: Establishing more than 600 secondary schools and doing away with tuition fees; Establishing free education for all elementary and secondary schools, including books, stationery, and uniforms; Founding Bendel State University (now Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma), which has many campuses; Establishing polytechnics, colleges of education, and colleges of agriculture; Offering free medical treatment and prescription medications at state-owned hospitals.
His extraordinary accomplishments brought him fame, but they also made adversaries, which is how the Buhari government unfairly detained him. Eventually, the fabricated accusations of embezzlement were removed from his record, and the university he created was named in his honor.