Fasakin, Vice Chancellor Trade Words over University of Ilorin Alumni Association Crisis

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

The embattled factional National President of the University of Ilorin Alumni Association, Dr. Wale Fasakin and the Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the institution, Professor Wahab Egbewole (SAN), yesterday, traded words over the continued crisis rocking the Alumni Association of the University.

Dr. Fasakin, at a press conference on the crisis, accused the VC of allegedly behind the crisis rocking the association.

He said that the association was enjoying peace until 2023 when the VC allegedly sided with a steering committee that birthed the new national executive committee led by Professor Abdulrazaq Kilani.

But Prof. Egbewole (SAN), in its swift reaction yesterday. in Ilorin, blamed Fasakin, saying he is playing double standard on the crisis despite the fact that his tenure has ended on March 2024.

Egbewole explained: “I came on board in October 2023. I held a meeting with the two factions of Alumni Association in the crisis and I have a mandate with them “to go and withdraw your cases at the court and lets consider to resolve the issue as a family.”

However, Fasaki alleged the involvement of Professor Egbewole and others led to a court action with case number: KWS/66/2022 filed at the Ilorin High Court.

“The litigation was between the association’s executive committee and the caretaker/the past President and Professor Egbewole (SAN) which appeared on account of his alleged complicity in the amendment of the association’s constitution and as the chairman of ‘Constitution Amendment Committee’,” he stated.

He recalled that Professor Egbewole once invited the warring groups for dialogue only to allegedly align with another contesting faction.

“On his appointment as the new VC, Egbewole appealed to the alumni body to withdraw from the law court, the existing case against him and others, promising to attend to the matter in a way that justice would be seen to have been served.

“We agreed to the counsel and admonition of the presiding judge by taking the matter out of court.

“Consequently, the VC invited us the executive committee to a meeting with the steering committee that he allegedly midwifed as well as members of the caretaker committee.

“True to our suspicion that he would not be interested in serving justice, he pronounced that the democratically elected executive committee of the association, headed by Dr. Stephen Olawale Fasakin, should give up their tenure and join hands with the steering committee and caretaker committee to organize a so called “Unity Congress” in order to elect a new set of National Executive Committee”.

Fasakin, who said some members of the association objected to the proposition, added it was the convention that was organised afterwards that produced Professor Kilani and others who are now the new Executive Committee.

However, Egbewole said: “No one represented him (Fasakin) at the meeting, Dr. Wale Fasakin and his team personally attended the meeting and the two factions withdrew their case in the court and set up Unity Conference Committee with the two factions represented while the university appointed chairman.

“In creditably, two days after this meeting in the presence of Dr. Wale Fasakin and his team, I received a letter from a body of Committee of Chairmen of chapters or branches and said I have no business in the affairs of the Alumni since it is not an appendage or unit of the University.

“As a lawyer, I respected them and what I did is that if I cannot then the body of the past presidents of the Alumni should be able to resolve the issue.

“The body of the past presidents then constituted another committee for what they called Unity Conference that was late 2022 and for that reason I opted out from the issue.”

Egbewole explained further that, “Sometimes in 2023, I met Dr. Wale Fasakin as he came here two or three times and after that, I told him that this is not honourable because if I sat down and agreed, of course, this was not the first time he had been doing this double standard as the past presidents met, Dr. Wale Fasakin  wrote in his writing and when the time comes we will unfold all the documents to show the world.

“Dr. Fasakin wrote on behalf of his team executive committee that the past presidents of the Alumni should call a meeting of the National Executive Committee to resolve the issue.

“The National Executive Committee met prior to my assumption of office as VC of the university and a meeting was called where executive committee of the Dr. Fasakin and other factions were in attendance but at the end of the day, Dr. Fasakin did another thing else.

“Dr. Fasakin later begged me and apologised. We later saw each other at the University of Abuja with one of his executive committee members and also asked me to resolve the issue again and even visited me at my hotel on the need to have a change of my mind to resolve the issue and which I declined to involve on the issue again.

“I asked him to go back to the Committee of past presidents and whatever the outcome of the meeting, the university is ready to support you.

“And what I heard later was that the committee of past presidents held an election and of course the term of Dr. Wale Fasakin tenure is for a specific term. It is not a life president and the term ended ordinarily on March 2024.

“So, if you have a tenure of four years from 2020, will you be parading yourself again in 2025 and as a matter of fact, University of Ilorin Alumni Association is a responsible association. It is association we are proud of and we will continue to cherish the association forever.”