OAU Denies Marginalisation, Abandonment Of Merit In Admission Process

The management of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, have denied alleged discrimination, ethnic marginalisation and a deliberate abandonment of merit in the institution admission process for the 2025/2026 academic session.

The university said Obafemi Awolowo University, as a federal university, operates within the framework of national policies, regulatory requirements and admission guidelines established by the Federal Government and the relevant statutory authorities responsible for university education in Nigeria.

Responding to an open petition to the Governing Council of the university by the national Leader of Anti-Cult Activities in Nigeria

Akin Okunowo, OAU through the university Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju said the Federal Government’s admission framework incorporates considerations of merit, geographical representation and the need to promote educational access and national integration.

Okunowo in the petition had in the petition alleged OAU of marginalising the Yoruba people with its policy by depriving their qualified children from having access to education on the platter of federal character.

“The most punished people in your education system today are the Yorubas. Yorubas are deliberately and secretly marginalized and punished across the country by depriving our children their right to education just like every other tribe in Nigeria.

“In fact, we are deprived of this right on our own ancestral soil.

You have made Ile-Ife a place where an Ogun indigene is a foreigner in his own land. Go to all federal higher institutions across Yoruba land, the same unconstitutional pattern is in play” Okunowo alleged.

An admission seeker, Sola Obembe while speaking with LEADERSHIP in Osogbo lamented the alleged marginalisation in the institution, saying the policy favours some people at the detriment of others that are more qualified for admission.