Oluwatoyin Ogundipe: Panel kicks as Buhari reinstates ‘corrupt’ UNILAG VC
The chairman of the panel on whose report Ogundipe was reinstated claims that the process was shrouded in “mago mago” and betrayal.
Not everyone is happy with the decision of the Muhammadu Buhari government to return Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as the vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
Ogundipe was removed from office following allegations of corruption that threw the UNILAG community into a crisis so huge the school postponed its 2020 convocation indefinitely.
But the Ministry of Education on Wednesday announced the approval of President Buhari to reinstate Ogundipe, a decision that leaves the status of Prof. Folasade Ogunsola, who was, in August, elected UNILAG’s first female VC in limbo.
Tukur Saad, a professor of architecture at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and chairperson of the federal government’s special Visitation Panel to probe UNILAG leadership crisis, has faulted Buhari’s decision to reinstate Ogundipe.
Saad, on several occasions, wrote Buhari’s chief of staff Ibrahim Gambari and education minister Adamu Adamu to raise objections about the integrity of the report that led to Ogundipe’s reinstatement.
“The recommendation that the VC should be reinstated was limited to the procedure of his termination,” Saad was quoted by Premium Times to have said.
“It did not mean he should be absolved of all wrong doing.”
“As chairman, I didn’t want to sign the final report but I felt that would be a slap on the face of the government and it would generate so much bad publicity in the public domain, that I would rather sign on the understanding that the matter would be referred to the Shehu of Borno as the Chancellor,” Saad wrote to Gambari.
The “final recommendation of the panel was that the matter should be referred back to the Chancellor, irrespective of what the panel recommended,” Saad wrote expressing disappointment at the decision to reinstate Ogundipe.
“As it stands now, I feel I was made a fool of and stabbed on the back by people I trusted,” he wrote.
A group of concerned Nigerians have submitted a to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) bordering on the multiple allegations of corruption against Ogundipe.
It is not clear if the EFCC will bring any charges against the reinstated UNILAG VC who has denied any wrongdoing.
