APC Decries Sack Of Ilesa University’s Principal Officers

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has described the sacking of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilesa, Prof Kayode Ijaduola and other Principal Officers as reckless, crude and illegal.

The immediate past administration of Adegboyega Oyetola had in November 2022 inaugurated both the University Governing Council and the principal officers before their removal on Thursday.

The establishment of the institution was first officially pronounced on Thursday, March 31, 2022 with its establishment bill passed by the State House of Assembly on 4th August, 2022, signed into law by former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on 27th of September, 2022 and licensed to operate with immediate effect by the National Universities Commission (NUC) on November 10, 2022.

Following the claims by the current administration in the state that the establishment of the university did not follow due process, a committee to review the entire process was set up and the White Papers on its findings are being awaited.

Commenting on the development, the Osun State Acting Chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi, in Osogbo on Friday stated that it was a pity that Governor Ademola Adeleke could set out on a wrong footing by politicising appointments of principal officers of the university.

Lawal maintained that the new University of Ilesa is a creation of the law which makes the removal of the tenured principal officers duly approved by a governor an illegality.

He stated that the management of an institution of higher learning should not only be devoid of political interference but that the process of the appointment of such an institution should not be at variance with international best practices.

“I doubt it if the law that established the University of Ilesa grants the state governor the power to remove or appoint the Vice-Chancellor and principal officers of the university without the recommendation of the Governing Council.’