Gbenro Adesina
An aggrieved contestant of the 12th Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), who is the candidate of Ile-Ife people as an indigene, Professor Rufus Adedoyin of the Department of Physiotherapy has faulted the selection process, which led to the appointment of Professor Adebayo Simeo Bamire as the incoming VC of the institution.
Adedoyin, stated that he is more qualified than the candidate appointed to head the institution for the next five years, threatening that if the appropriate authorities fail to do the needful, he would approach the court for justice.
It will be recalled that shortly after the announcement of Professor Bamire as the institution’s VC Designate, Ife indigenes commenced series of protests asking the school Governing Council to replace Adebayo with Adedoyin.
The reason given for this call is that Ife has not produced a VC since the establishment of the institution, therefore, Adedoyin, an Ife indigene should be allowed to head the institution.
After the protest by some ife indigenes, traditional worshippers from Ife also staged their own protest, invoking series of spirits against the citadel of learning and demanding that necessary authority should reverse the appointment of Bamire and announce Adedoyin as VC.
Adedoyin addressed a letter of grievance to the Governing Council, dated March 18, 2022, copied President Muhammadu Buhari and the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and titled it: “2022 Selection of Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria: A Petition against the Prejudicial Actions of the Governing Council Chairman (Owelle Oscar Udoji) and other Selection Committee Members – A Pre-Action Notice.”
In the said letter, Adedoyin described the selection exercise as lacking transparency and riddled with manipulations, demanding for an investigation of the selection process as well as reviewing the exercise.
The letter reads:
I, Professor A. Adedoyin in the Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences of the Obafemi Awolwo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, as aspirant in the 2022 selection exercises above, hereby submit a petition and a pre-action notice with reference to the selection exercise conducted by the selection committee of the Governing Council as above and the announcement made by the Chairman of the Council, owelle Oscar Udoji, on Thursday 17th Day of March, 2022 in which Professor A. S. Bamire of the Department of Agricultural Economics was admitted in as the most qualified of all the applicants. I wish to notify and seek redress against the irregular, inconsistent, biased and unjust selection criteria utilised by teh Chairman and members of the committee. My premises are as follows:
“That the exercise lacked transparency and was riddled with manipulations, particularly on the part of the Chairman of the Council with the actual acquiesce on the part of the members;
“That the criteria were deliberately manipulated in favour of Professor A. S. Bamire using standards that were neither previously in use nor anticipated by the applicants;
“That some criteria were deliberately scored more than once for some candidates with a view to manipulating the process;
“That I can boldly say that I hold excellent credentials than in terms of academic visibility, grant attraction, human capital development i.e. doctoral and other supervisions, national and community services and social responsibilities to the university community;
“That , in spite of intimidation during the interview session in which issues and matters extraneous to Vice Chancellor’s responsibility were maliciously put to me, I believe I was able to rise up excellently to the occasion;
“That the Vice Chancellor, Professor Eyitayo Ogunbodede had consistently profiled me with prejudicial statements in meetings and all available opportunities including in Council meetings as an Ife man whose candidature should be opposed for the reason best known to him; and
“That the Chairman of the Council and other Committee members were biased, manipulative, preferential and malicious against my candidature.”
He prayed, “For the above mentioned grounds and many more damning pieces of information to be presented when called upon, I hereby called for an investigation and review of the entire appointment process by the appropriate and independent authorities other than the compromised Selection Committee as previously constituted.”
He concluded, “This also serves as a Pre-Action notice to approach a court of competent jurisdiction should appropriate administrative remedies and justice are denied.”
