Hamman Tukur Saad, chairman of the federal government’s
visitation panel to probe the crisis rocking the University of Lagos (UNILAG),
has kicked against the reinstatement of Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as the
institution’s vice-chancellor.
Recall that Ogundipe was removed by the
varsity’s governing council on August 12 during a meeting presided over by Wale
Babalakin, its former pro-chancellor and chairman.
But on Wednesday, President Muhammadu Buhari approved
Ogundipe’s reinstatement in a statement issued by Ben-Bem Goong, ministry of
education’s director press and public relations.
In a letter dated November 10 and addressed to Ibrahim
Gambari, chief of staff to the president, however, Saad faulted the federal
government’s decision to reinstate Ogundipe.
Saad said the panel’s recommendation for Ogundipe’s
reinstatement as VC was only based on his unjust removal from office and as
such did not absolve him of fraud allegations against him.
The professor of architecture at the Ahmadu Bello University
(ABU), Zaria, also disclosed that he agreed to sign the panel’s final report on
the ground that it would be reviewed by the Shehu of Borno, who is UNILAG’s
chancellor.
Saad said he did not want to sign the report earlier but
changed his mind to avoid igniting further controversies.
“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,” he said.
He, however, expressed regret that the federal government
announced Ogundipe’s reinstatement contrary to the initial stance that the
“final recommendation of the panel was that the matter should be referred back
to the chancellor, irrespective of what the panel recommended.”
“As it stands now I feel I was made a fool of and stabbed on
the back by people I trusted,” he said in the letter.
In another letter dated October 7 and addressed to Adamu
Adamu, minister for education, Saad had expressed concern over the integrity of
the report submitted by the panel.
In the letter, Saad had claimed that the panel’s report was
not only one-sided as the majority of its members were biased to Ogundipe but
also that the terms of reference (ToR) were skewed against Balalakin.
“When you read the report you will notice that it was very
one-sided, so to speak, the option was for the Chairman to refuse to sign the
report and that would have been a slap on the Government’s face,” he said.
“In any case, the issue is not that the report was false but
it contained half truth in order to protect one party and magnified the facts
from the other party by pushing the blame to one side, omitting what could have
balanced the report.”
Buttressing his point, the chairman cited the panel’s
recommendations on the various allegations against the VC including contract
splitting.
“The recommendation that the VC should be reinstated was
limited to the procedure of his termination. It did not mean he should be absolved
of all wrongdoing. If among the faults enumerated in the report the government
believes he should be sacked, that does not contradict our recommendations,” he
said.
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