By Anthony Ojo
More controversies haves continued to trail the ongoing appointment of a new Vice Chancellor for the Federal University Oye Ekiti and the situation is calling for urgent attention of the appropriate authorities.
For about two months now, it has been one agitation and petition against the other regarding the integrity of the process of the selection even though the authorities of the university had on several occasions affirmed that the process was without any prejudice.
The latest is the open letter by the various in-house unions of the university to the Minister of Education where the leaderships expressed dissatisfaction with the process of the appointment thus calling for its cancellation.
It was alleged in the letter that the council did not follow due process in the assignment at hand and such was not good for the future of the university.
The letter was signed by chairmen and secretaries of the unions comprising SSANU, NASU and NAAT
The signatories are Com. Ojumoola AyodeleCom. Oyelude Yekeen,Com. Abioye JamesCom. Ayeni AbrahamCom. Faleye Benjamin O. and Com. Babafemi Oluwasola
It was gathered that the decision to write the Federal Government was reached at the congress of the unions held within the university premises.
The union leaders in the letter and in a statement issued thereafter alleged that the process for the appointment of the new VC had been characterized with Irregularities owing to the desperate attempt by some powerful organs of the university to impose their anointed candidates.
According to them, two out of the external members of the council had backed off following allegation of irregularities and compromise which they couldn’t bear hence the need for due investigation by government into the matter.
Other request by the unions was on the need for the Ministry of Education to mandate the VC to embark of a terminal leave so as to give room for transparency and avoid interference in the process as done in other places were similar drama ensued.
When contacted on the telephone, the Deputy Director Corporate Services, Federal University Oye Ekiti, Mr Adeyinka Ademuyiwa denied the allegations saying the council had been working eagerly in line with the terms of reference.
According to him, the allegation that some of the members of the council pulled out was very untrue saying members have been attending every meeting called and quorum were formed in all meetings.
Alleging that some may have vested interest for their own pecuniary gains, she said both out-going VC and current Chairman of the Council, Dr. Mohammed Yahuza have allowed the process to be fair and transparent, adding that neither of the two have any preffered candidate or making plans to impose any.
He claimed that some people were only trying to politicize the issue adding that the request for an Acting Vice Chancellor was also absorb as the tenure of the current VC subsists.1¹
