- Lecturers at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti on Tuesday said the protracted crisis rocking the institution was caused by politics of succession for the office of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Soremekun.
Lecturers at the Federal University, Oye Ekiti on Tuesday said the protracted crisis rocking the institution was caused by politics of succession for the office of the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Soremekun.
The lecturers, under the aegis of Forum of Concerned Academics, alleged that the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Akure zone and the embattled FUOYE ASUU Chairman, Dr Akinyemi Omonijo, were only resorting to blackmail and propaganda to stop the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, who they saw as a potential successor.
Chairman of the FCA, Prof. Shola Omotola, who addressed a press conference in Ado Ekiti alongside eight other dons of the institution, said, “The truth is that the matter has since been investigated and found to be false. There is more to the matter than meets the eyes. It is all about the politics of succession. They see Prof. Abayomi as one of the potential successors to the VC. So they want to do serious damage to his image and reputation.”
The don, in an address entitled, ‘Re – Red alert: Stop impunity and administrative recklessness in FUOYE’, said, “It has now become very clear to us, with their latest vituperations against our university that ASUU Akure zone is waging a mafia war against FUOYE. We will henceforth resist this with all conventional means at our disposal.”
The zonal ASUU had consequent upon several allegations called on the Federal Government to audit the university through a visitation panel.
The concerned academics said, “Pension is deducted from source, not FUOYE. No student has ever paid a penny to buy reagent for practical. They claimed our laboratories in Engineering were not good enough to train secondary school students, yet our engineering students competed in a national competition involving all Faculties of Engineering in Nigerian universities and came first.
Omotola, who disagreed with the zonal ASUU’s stance on infrastructure in the university, said President Muhammadu Buhari had during the institution’s second combined convocations on Saturday challenged older universities to emulate FUOYE.
But the zonal ASUU Chairman, Prof. Olu Olu, said, “If they believe what the zone said is not correct, they should support us by calling on the Federal Government to come and audit the university. Let the visitation panel come and we will know who is right and wrong.
“Our position is that of the ASUU national body. They asked us to go ahead and do it. If they said the zone is wrong, that means they are saying the national is wrong. What is so big about calling for visitation panel to the university? I am only the spokesperson of the national in this regard,” the ASUU zonal chairman said.
