University of Ilesa Has Come to Stay, Says Governor Adeleke 

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

The Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has described the recent appointments of principal officers for the University of Ilesa as part of the fulfillment of his promise to nurture a sustainable tertiary institution for Ijeshaland.

In a statement issued yesterday by spokesperson to the governor, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, Governor Adeleke reaffirmed his commitment to building a sound footed university which he said informed his approval of a leading academic of international repute, Prof. Taiwo Asaolu as the Vice Chancellor of the university.

Commending the applause, the new appointments elicited from Ijesha society, the governor assured that the many laudable ideas recommended by the erstwhile Asaolu committee are now billed for implementation under the same man who chaired the review panel.

“I am elated that we are keeping faith with the Ijesha people. We are upholding due process, avoiding politicisation of the academic environment, correcting errors of the past and fulfilling the decades old dream of Ijesha people.

“I commend the leaders, sons and daughters of Ijeshaland for their patience and acceptance of ongoing decisions of our government. I urge all stakeholders to cooperate with the new Vice Chancellor as he settles down to the urgent task of sustainable take off of the university”, the statement concluded.

Meanwhile, the Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the sacking of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilesa, Prof. Kayode Ijaduola; the Registrar, Mr. Oluwole Dada and the Liberian, Dr. Adedokun Ojelabi, as reckless, saying the action has further portrayed Adeleke’s administration as one that lacks governance basics.

The immediate past administration of Adegboyega Oyetola had in November 2022 inaugurated both the University Governing Council and the principal officers before their sudden sack by Governor Ademola Adeleke on Thursday.

It would be recalled that the birth of the university was first officially pronounced on Thursday, March 31, 2022 with its establishment bill passed by the Osun State House of Assembly on Monday 4th of August, 2022 while it became a legal entity on Tuesday 27th of September, 2022 with the signature of former Governor Oyetola and subsequently licensed to operate with immediate effect by the National Universities Commission (NUC) on Thursday, November 10, 2022.

But Governor Adeleke had claimed that the establishment of the university did not follow due process and as such set up a committee to review the entire process.

However, while the people of Osun were waiting patiently for the report of the review committee, Governor Adeleke yesterday announced Prof. Asaolu who earlier headed the university’s review committee as the Vice-Chancellor.

He announced other principal officers as follows: Funso Ojo as the Registrar and Amobi Ogunsipe as the Librarian. The new appointees are said to be card-carrying members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State.

Commenting on the development, the Osun State Acting Chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo, the state capital today, stated that it was a pity that Governor Adeleke could set out on a wrong footing by politicising appointments of principal officers of a citadel of learning.

Lawal disclosed that he saw no reason why Adeleke should be approbating and reprobating at the same time on the issues having to do with the new university in an apparent show of bitterness and debilitating struggle to rubbish the legacy of his predecessor simply because they share different political ideals.

The Acting State APC chairman reminded Adeleke and his co-travellers that the new University of Ilesa is a creation of the law which makes his removal of the tenured principal officers duly approved by his predecessor an illegality.

He stated that the management of an institution of higher learning should not only be devoid of political interference but the process of the appointment of such an institution should not be at variance with international best practices.

In Lawal’s words: “I doubt it if the law that established the University of Ilesa grants the state governor the power to remove or appoint the Vice-Chancellor and principal officers of the university without the recommendation of the Governing Council.

“The process of the appointment of the new principal officers of the Ilesa University is crude, illegal and stinks to high heavens as it would be an impossible Utopia for it to surmount legal fire power in any court of law.

“The sack is not only reckless but a bad precedent. It is another further indication that the Adeleke administration lacks governance basics.

“History will not be fair to those who are thinking for this administration as there is hardly a government policy that has been gotten right by the obviously embattled Adeleke government.

“Adeleke has a convincing explanation to make to the parents, guardians and candidates why the precious time, money and opportunity of the supposed first intakes of the university were deliberately bungled by him through the playing of politics of bitterness.

“Adeleke’s administration indeed has been a bundle of disappointment that daily relishes in poor showing on all fronts.

“For lack of not knowing what to do, it is in the public domain that the Adeleke administration engages in financial recklessness, lack of managerial capacity, disregard for financial prudence, wasteful and extra-budgetary spendings, among others in the last five months of his government,” Lawal stressed.