[Latest News] FG SUSPENDS FUNAAB VC (SEE DETAILS)

The federal government thursday suspended the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, who is currently facing a criminal charge in court.

In a letter dated May 8 and signed by the acting Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Hussaini Adamu, and made available to journalists directed the suspended vice chancellor to hand over the affairs of the institution to the most senior staff.

“Sequel to your arraignment before an Ogun State High Court on criminal charges, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), on Monday November 24, 2016, I am directed to convey the minister’s approval to place you on suspension from office with immediate effect pending the determination of the court case against you in accordance with extant rules,” the letter read.

“You are therefore, directed to hand over the affairs of your office to the most senior Deputy Vice Chancellor, in the University.”

In her reaction, Head, Directorate of Public Relations, FUNAAB , Emi Alawode, in a statement, said: “The Directorate of Public Relations, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, has been inundated with inquiries on whether Professor Oyewole has been suspended from office or not.

“Consultations are in progress with the university administration on the true position of things, while a formal statement will be issued in due course. Meanwhile, all normal academic and administrative activities are ongoing unabated in the university.

“The embattled vice chancellor had been charged by the EFCC alongside the former pro-chancellor of the school, Adeseye Ogunewe, the bursar, Moses Ilesanmi, to court for alleged abuse of office and misappropriation of funds.

“They were investigated after whistleblowers tipped off the anti-graft agency and accused the trio of suspicious dealings totalling N800 million. The case is before Justice O.C Majekodunmi of the state high court

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FG suspends FUTA, FUNAAB VCs


Prof. Olusola Oyewole; Prof. Adebiyi Daramola


The Federal Government on Thursday suspended the embattled Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, Prof. Adebiyi Daramola and his counterpart at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Prof. Olusola Oyewole.

A letter signed by the Acting Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Hussaini Adamu, noted that the duo was suspended in connection with their ongoing trial at the behest of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. They were instructed to handover to the most senior Deputy Vice-Chancellors of their respective institutions.

While attempts to reach the Head, Information and Protocol Unit of FUTA to confirm the suspension were unsuccessful on Thursday, a statement by the Head Directorate of Public Relations, FUNAAB, Mrs. Emi’ Alawode, neither affirmed nor denied the suspension.

“Consultations are in progress with the university administration on the true position of things, while a formal statement will be issued in due course. Meanwhile, all normal academic and administrative activities are ongoing unabated, in the university,’’ she said.

It would be recalled that Daramola has a running battle with academic and non-academic staff of the university over mismanagement of funds. The unions had also urged the governing council of the university to remove Daramola from office.

Daramola who had been arraigned by the EFCC, is due for retirement this month. In an earlier interview with our correspondent, he denied the allegations leveled against him.

“Essentially, what is responsible for this, between the management which I personify and the unions is that, unions usually want some of the resources meant for the development of the university to be given out to them as welfare packages under one guise or the other. On this, I am referring to the non teaching unions asking for productivity allowance.

“Again, the unions try to resist developmental initiatives in the university. They will rather you spend the money on their welfare after collecting their salaries, to using it to develop infrastructure on the campus. A case in point is the number of projects that we have and the staff unions insisting that we give them 40 per cent of the Internally Generated Revenue as welfare. If we do that, the business of the university such as the maintenance of facilities, provision of power and even the construction of lecture theatres and other things will be grounded,’ he had said.