Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe has declared that he remains the vice chancellor of the University of Lagos, UNILA.
His declaration was in reaction to reports about his removal at an emergency meeting of the governing council of the university chaired by Wale Babalakin.
In a statement he personally signed, Ogundipe stated that the announcement of his removal by the registrar of the university, Oladejo Azeez, was untrue and figment of imagination.
He called on members of the public and UNILAG stakeholders to dismiss the story of his removal as the product of mischief.
His statement reads in full:
Re: Notice to the General Public on the Removal of the Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos by Oladejo Azeez, Esq
The attention of the University of Lagos (Unilag) management has been drawn to the ‘Notice to the General Public on the Removal of the Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos’; dated August 12, 2020 and signed by Oladejo Azeez, Esq, Registrar and Secretary to Council, stating that the current Vice Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin T. Ogundipe, FAS has been removed from office with immediate effect.
This is untrue and a figment of his imagination. Therefore, stakeholders of Unilag and the general public are advised to disregard this mischievous disinformation about the sitting Vice Chancellor of Unilag, contained in that notice. Professor Ogundipe still remains Unilag’s Vice Chancellor.
Ogundipe was removed from office at an emergency meeting of the governing council held in Abuja on Tuesday.
The meeting was said to be at the instance of Babalakin and notice signed by the university’s registrar, Oladejo Azeez.
During the meeting, the Pro chancellor, Professor Adebayo Ninalowo, asked Ogundipe to excuse them after which a vote was cast for his removal.
It was gathered that seven people voted against him while four were in his support.
“We are very sad,” said a UNILAG lecturer in a brief interview with our correspondent.
According to him, the removal of the vice chancellor could not be justified in any way, particularly considering his laudable achievements within his short period.
He said there had not been any official reaction from ASUU yet as the news broke less than an hour when our correspondent spoke with him on phone.
It would be recalled that Babalakin had been at loggerhead over the institution’s 51st convocation which was scheduled to hold from March 9 to 12.
The convocation was suspended by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, following the complaint by Babalakin that due process was not followed in arriving at the decision to hold the convocation.
Angered by the development, the UNILAG chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, passed a vote of no confidence on Babalakin.
According to the chairman of ASUU, Dele Ashiru, Babalakin should not step into the university.
His words: “Dr. Wale Babalakin is now a persona non grata on our campus. We don’t want to see him again anywhere in the university. He is no longer needed.”
Attempt by the governing council to meet at the university last month was resisted as the lecturer insisted that Babalakin remained persona non grata.
