Trouble Brews In UNILAG Over VC’s Removal By Governing Council

Trouble is brewing in one of the foremost citadels learning in the land, the University of Lagos following the removal of its Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, by the Governing Council.

 The matter is also putting the chairman of the council, Dr Wale Babalakin, ironically, an alumnus of the university in the eye of the storm, even as the key unions in the school are rallying round their vice-chancellor,

Speaking under the aegies of the Joint Staff Union, JSU at a Congress to state their position on the announcement by the Council that Ogundipe ceased to be the VC of the school as from Wednesday, this week, they expressed their displeasure describing the decision as unacceptable.

The staff unions which condemned the removal, are the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, the National Association of Academic Technologists, NAAT, and the Non-Academic Staff Union, NASU.

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The document stating the positon of the unions were signed by  Chairman, ASUU, Dr Dele Ashiru, Chairman, SSANU, Comrade Olusola Sowunmi, Chairman, NASU, Comrade Ajibade Kehinde, Chairman, NAAT, Comrade Sulyman Lawal, Chairman, NASU, College of Medicine, Idi Araba, Comrade Tunde Aderibigbe and Secretary, SSANU, CMUL, Idi Araba, Comrade Ayo Alli.

Stating that the development would set a wrong precedence in the nations ivory tower, they added:

 “The University of Lagos is the first university in Nigeria to be set up through an Act of Parliament and that is why we have the University of Lagos Act 1962. The Act stipulates how the university is to be run. It spells out how to discipline any errant officer. In this case, all the procedures listed for disciplining officers were not followed.

“This is not a Banana Republic and even a junior clerk in the university should not be treated that way. We are not in Oshodi Market where somebody can turn himself into an idol to be worshipped.

“ When Dr Wale Babalakin was appointed the Chairman of the Governing Council, being an alumnus of the school, our hopes were that he would use his good offices to make the institution better, but the reverse is the case,” Ashiru stated.

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Sowunmi, Kehinde and Lawal who spoke for SSANU, NASU and NAAT, also noted that they were not in support of any person, but that they were supporting the system.

Consequently, they called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Visitor to the University, to dissolve the Governing Council as according to them, Babalakin was using it to fight needless battles and drawing back the school.

According to a Vanguard report on the matter, a member of the Senate of the institution, Prof. Olukemi Odukoya, who briefed the Congress on some of the decisions taken at its sitting earlier in the day, had said the resolutions of the Senate had been sent to the appropriate authorities.

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The resolutions involved the rejection of the removal of Ogundipe from office by the Council among others. It was gathered that following the call by one third of members for a sitting, the Senate met in the morning and appointed Prof. Chioma Agomoh, former Dean, Faculty of Law, to chair the proceedings. Saying no to Acting Vice Chancellor While the meeting was still on, Ogundipe, who was in Abuja on Wednesday for the Council meeting, arrived the venue.

 According to the reporter, he was accorded a rousing welcome, as the crowd intensified their solidarity songs. Before he talked, some members such as Prof. Carol Okpara, Dr Amadi Matha and Dr Ashaolu, called on the workers to see the struggle as a fight to say no to bad examples being laid.

 The workers also said they were not in support of any surrogate Acting Vice Chancellor in the institution and resolved to turn the Senate Building to their resumption point until the matter is resolved.

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They appealed to the President to allow the rule of law prevail by giving Ogundipe a fair hearing and following due process at every state.

Ogundipe, who breezed in when members of the Joint Staff Union, JSU, of the institution were holding a special Congress, told the workers that he had always discharged his duties to the best of his ability in whatever capacities he had worked. “I have put in 30 years of meritorious service to the University of Lagos and whether as a junior or senior lecturer, Head of Department, Dean of a Faculty, Dean of Post Graduate School, Deputy Vice Chancellor or as the Vice Chancellor, I have never been found wanting.

 ‘I see myself and all of you my comrades as builders in this university. We are building on the solid foundation laid by the founders and we must and will continue to build.

“ I am peace loving and want all of us to be so too. Also, we should not allow anybody or group truncate the peace existing here on campus.

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“I am a Comrade and a loyal member of our union and I will remain loyal to my fellow comrades. I am really overwhelmed by the show of support and solidarity by you all,” he said.

A source told The Eagle that the matter was not as simple as it was looking, and that the removal of the council may indeed backfire.