Aspirant threatens to take OAU to court over VC appointment

Professor Rufus Adedoyin, one of the aspirants who contested for the position of the Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University has threathened to take the institution to court over the choice of Prof. A.S. Bamire.

Adedoyin in a petition he wrote to the Chairman of the OAU Governing Council, Owelle Oscar Udoji, said the process of the selection of the new VC was irregular, inconsistent, biased and skewed to favour Bamire.

In his petition, Adedoyin said, “That the exercise lacked transparency and was riddled with manipulations, particularly on the part of the Chairman of the Council with actual acquiesce on the part of the members

“That the criteria were deliberately manipulated in favour of Professor A. S. Bamire using standards that were neither previously in 115z nor anticipated by the applicants.

“That some criteria were deliberately scured more than once for some candidates with a view to manipulating the process.

“That I can boldly say that I hold excellent credentials than in terms of academic visibility grant attraction, human capital development i.e. doctoral and other supervisions, nalional and community services, and social responsibilities to the university community.

“That, in spite of intimidation during the interview session in which issues and matters extraneous to Vice Chancellor’s responsibilities were maliciously put to me, I believe was able to rise up excellently to the occasion:

“The Vice Chancellor Prof. Eyitope Ogunmodede had consistently profiled me with prejudicial statements in meetings and all available opportunities including the council meetings as an Ife man whose candidature should be opposed at all cost for any reason best known to him.

“That the chairman of the council and other committee members were biased, manipulative, preferential and malicious against my candidature,” he wrote.

The professor of agricultural economics therefore called for “an investigation and review of the entire appointment process by the appropriate independent authorities other than the compromised selection committee as presently consistuted”.

According to him, if his prayers are not met, he would approach the court for redress.

WESTERN POST had earlier reported that indigenes of Ile-Ife had stormed in the university in protest on Monday, demanding that one of them become the next VC of the school.