A drama ensued at Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, on Tuesday as two staff unions held counter rallies in support of, or against the embattled vice-chancellor of the institution, Olusola Oyewole.
Mr. Oyewole was asked to proceed on suspension through a letter of May 8 signed by the acting Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Hussaini Adamu, on behalf of the Minister, Adamu Adamu. He was directed to handover to the most senior Deputy Vice Chancellor in the University.
The development followed his arraignment at a High Court in Abeokuta for alleged misappropriation of N800 million belonging to the university following a petition by three whistleblowers who are members of the SSANU.
Mr. Oyewole, whose five-year tenure was to expire on May 23, however, defied the suspension order and turned up in his office on Monday.
In reacting to the news of Mr. Oyewole’s suspension, the Chairman of SSANU, Olurotimi Fasuwon, and the three whistleblowers, Emmanuel Bankole, Abdussobur Salaam, and Olasunkanmi Somoye, had led other members to hold a mock send-forth ceremony on the open field of the secretariat of the association on the university campus.
At the ceremony, against the background of music by a live band, the association served bean cake and pap to the members and others in attendance.
The body also distributed posters deriding Mr. Oyewole as “First sitting Vice Chancellor to be confined to a Black Maria and afterwards remanded in prison custody”, “First sitting Vice-Chancellor to be arraigned in court for criminal-related charges” and “First Vice-Chancellor in the history of the university to be suspended” among others.
Mr. Fasuwon said the event was organised to coincide with the unceremonious exit of Mr. Oyewole as Vice Chancellor of “our once glorious university and to give a dossier of the backwardness which he brought”.
He also claimed that the Vice Chancellor’s tenure had brought anguish and pain to the staff and set the university back by more than 10 years.
“The university had over the years enjoyed love, joy and happiness amongst the various categories of staff who now live in fear, hate and distrust courtesy Prof O.B Oyewole,” he said.
In contrast to the antics of SSASU, however, members of NASU gathered in front of the institution’s Senate building in solidarity with the Vice Chancellor. They condemned his suspension as illegal.
In a statement signed by the union’s chairman, I.O Odunjo, and Secretary, S.I Edivri, and distributed to journalists, NASU said it received the news of “the purported letter of suspension of the vice-chancellor” with shock and surprise.
“This act of the Honourable Minister is shocking and surprising in view of the fact that as an overseer of the Ministry of Education, he is expected to be well grounded in the laws, rules and regulations, cultures, customs and norms of all educational institutions in the country, particularly at the highest educational level”.
The union stated that the “suspension of the vice-chancellor of any university by the Honourable Minister under any guise whatsoever” was nothing but an absolute illegality.
“That the said letter is a manifestation of executive lawlessness and abuse of office on the part of Minister.
“That it is a product of witchhunting, god-fatherism and overzealousness for power on the part of of the mover of the above letter who had been on the neck of not only the Minister but also on some bureaucrats in the ministry”.
The pro group declared that Mr. Oyewole remained “Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta” and that the letter of his suspension remained “null and void, illegal, unacceptable and rejected in its entirety”.
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