There is uncertainty in the air as no fewer than eight out of the 16 aspirants for the post of Vice Chancellor (VC) at the University of Ibadan have withdrawn from participating in the town hall meeting billed for Monday.
The Town-Hall meeting organised by the UI Community Forum, tagged “The Voice of the Next UI VC, Who is Next?” is billed to hold on tomorrow Monday, October 4.
The forum offers a platform for staff, students and other members of the university community to meet the aspirants, listen to them and ask them questions.
The UI Community Forum consists of five unions in the institution ― Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Students’ Union (SU), Non-Academic Staff Union of University (NASU) and the Non-Academic Technicians (NATS).
The Precision NG gathered that many of the applicants have written to the organisers to excuse them from attending the community forum owing to various reasons.
The affected applicants as at Sunday, October 3 are Professor Babatunde Salako; Professor Aderemi Raji-Oyelade;
Professor Clement Kolawole Olaniran;
Professor Olusegun Ademowo;
Professor Temitope Alonge and Professor Emiola Olapade-Olaopa.
It was also gathered that the incumbent acting VC , Prof. Babatunde Ekanola may not attend too as he is billed for an official engagement outside Ibadan as well as Prof. Ebenezer Farombi, who as at Press time, had refused to send his details to the organisers.
Matters Arising
It will be recalled that Professor Babatunde Ekanola of the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts was appointed by the Senate as the acting VC in November, 2020 for a period of six months due to crisis that trailed the succession plan of the former Vice Chancellor, Abel Idowu Olayinka.
Ekanola’s tenure was extended in June 2021 for another final six months due to the last council failure to appoint a substantive Vice Chancellor for the 73- year old institution.
The process commenced afresh after a decision to that effect was reached at a meeting of the university Council presided over by its new Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
Some of the reasons adduced by the contestants include advising the new council led by Chief Oyegun to avoid the mistakes of the past as some of the issues raised then were still not addressed.
One of the contestants had alleged in the previous petition that an elected Senate Representative sent in an SMS in error congratulating an anointed VC candidate, in an ongoing selection process. This shows a premeditated action which the new Council must guide against.
Also, some unconfirmed staff were alleged to be among those 153 elected as congregation members to the Senate then.
It was also alleged that the process then was manipulated by the authority to favour a particular anointed candidate.
Another major concern raised was the sudden entrance of the incumbent Acting Vice Chancellor into the race. This, they described as morally unethical as he was supposed to be neutral and already exposed to all the applications of the other contestants before filing his nomination.
Irrespective of all these, the Council is determined to produce a substantive Vice Chancellor by October 14 in line with its revised time table.
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