A member of the Senate of the University of Ibadan, Professor Abiodun Onilude has alleged that some godfathers are behind the festering crisis rocking the institution over the appointment of its next Vice-Chancellor.
Onilude, a former Dean of the Faculty of Science, revealed this in a recent interview with Tribune.
He however warned that these godfathers, who he refused to name, should take a backseat and allow the Senate of the institution perform its duties .
“There are godfathers and when the time comes, we will expose everything. But, the godfathers should go and sit down and allow council, senate to do their work. Let the godfathers respect institutions in the university system. Let them respect the Council, Senate of the university. The godfathers should go and sleep because, if care is not taken, the whole thing will consume them as well,” he said.
He also maintained that the bane of the ongoing crisis in the institution is that certain people in Abuja want to influence who emerges as the next Vice-Chancellor.
“Let me say that there is no particular issue on ground for contention other than the fact that some people believe that they have influence up there in Abuja and want to use such influence on the selection of the next Vice Chancellor. Also, they refuse to agree that in any particular election, someone will win. What you discover is that due to their action or inaction, the actual autonomy of the university is being eroded. The power of the Senate to appoint its own member to serve on the selection board is also being eroded by people from the Ministry of Education, that is the Minister of Education himself and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC). They have no role to play in the appointment of Vice Chancellor. Why are they coming around to annul elections? It has never happenedatn the University of Ibadan. Let’s see how far the powers will go. But, it will reach a particular point where we will tell them that they don’t have that power.”
Contrary to his claim, OYOINSIGHT understands that multiple stakeholders have alleged that the process Is being disrupted by the incumbent, Idowu Olayinka who they claim wants to impose his anointed candidate.
However Onilude explained further that the Senate cant be manipulated by the Vice-Chancellor.
“There is nothing of such. The Senate is not made up of fools; it is made up of professors as well as academics who have attained the highest level of education. They can reason, argue to reach a conclusion on a particular issue. The University Vice Chancellor is just first among equals. Ibadan is not a place where somebody can just manipulate anybody. The Vice Chancellor cannot manipulate anybody. Are you saying Senate, that is made up of well over 650 persons, can be manipulated by one person? You are talking of the best set of professors and academia in Africa,” he added.
