ASUU Rejects Exclusion of State Lecturers from VC Job
National President of ASUU, Prof Abiodun Ogunyemi
Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has kicked against the restriction of application for the position of vice chancellor of the Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) to only professors working in federal universities.
The Coordinator of ASUU, Akure Zone, Prof Olu Olu Olufayo rejected the criterion at a press conference he addressed at the Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado Ekiti yesterday.
At the conference, Olufayo said it was unfair and discriminatory to disqualify professors from state universities from vying for the vice chancellorship position of the institution.
He, also, accused FUOYE’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kayode Soremekun of plotting to impose the deputy vice chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Fasina, as his successor in violation of the university’s statute.
Olufayo said: “About 70 Professors applied, nine were shortlisted, but we learnt Prof Fasina came first. In the advertorial, professors from state universities were shut out from applying .
“We will not resort to brigandage. But we will continue to speak against despotism, disorderliness, brutishness and arm twisting at FUOYE. We call on President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently stop the impunity and the attempt to institutionalize the same at FUOYE.
“For some time now, ASUU has been calling out different agencies of government to address the rot, extraordinary corruption, ineptitude and moral decadence at the university under the direction of Soremekun, Fasina and a host of others.
If this is left unchecked, it would be a fallacy to address FUOYE as a university. Under Professors Soremekun and Fasina, FUOYE has become an enslaved and conquered territory where academic freedom has long been mortgaged to nepotism, parochialism and patronage.
Soremekun and Fasina have continued to run a private enterprise and surprisingly, as the tenure of the VC is coming to an end, we learnt that there are clandestine plans to enthrone Prof. Fasina as an anointed successor in a bid to enshrine a dynasty of impunity.
“Fasina was granted a sabbatical appointment in FUOYE from 2nd January 2015 to terminate on 31st December 2015. He sought and got an extension to utilise his deferred accumulated leave still at FUOYE between 4th January and 22nd September 2016. He duly returned to EKSU on 23rd September 2016 and later absconded in the same month till now.”
But reacting, Soremekun via the Deputy Director, Corporate Services, Adeyinka Ademuyiwa, said Prof Fasina was not being imposed by anybody .
Soremekun added that the process of getting a new VC has begun and hopeful of the emergence of a new VC from this ‘transparent’ process, saying the Zonal ASUU, which commanded poor followership among lecturers in FUOYE lacks the credibility to impose anyone on the institution through incessant attacks and obnoxious practices.
He also said Fasina did not collect double salaries as being alleged, adding that the case was already in court and sub-judice and contemptuous to make it a subject of discussion.
Soremekun disclosed that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission ( ICPC) as well as the University Governing Council had investigated the matter and gave the deputy vice chancellor a clean bill of health.
