The Committee of Vice Chancellors of Universities in Nigeria has rejected the ouster of Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
The professional body described the situation as a funny development and called on the Governing Council of the University to follow laid down rules and procedures as well as allow Prof. Ogundipe to defend the allegations leveled against him.
According to the Secretary-General of the body of vice chancellors, Prof. Yakubu Ochefu, the abrupt removal of the UNILAG VC did not follow due process. He also expressed dismay at the fact that the council hurriedly appointed an acting vice chancellor, noting that the move will lead to another round of leadership problems in the university.
He noted that the council refused to appoint any of the three deputy vice chancellors as acting VC as stipulated by the extant laws of the University of Lagos.
“The council has gone ahead to announce a new VC; the extant laws state that one of his Deputies should be appointed to act, UNILAG has three Deputy Vice Chancellors, none of them was appointed as the acting VC and somebody else entirely was appointed,” he said.
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“This is going to pose another problem because the Senate will not allow such a person to chair their meeting because they don’t know him within the context of laws establishing Universities.”
He described the developing situation in the university as unhealthy for any institution to go through.
The Governing Council of the university had issued a public announcement announcing the sack of Prof. Ogundipe as Vice Chancellor and stated that his removal was based on allegations of serious acts of wrongdoing, gross misconduct, financial recklessness and abuse of office.
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