Gbenro Adesina
As part of efforts to resolve the lingering crisis over the appointment of the 13th Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan (UI), Senate members of the Premier University are invoking its extant Standing Orders, which allows the University Senate to call for an emergency meeting on any matter of urgent importance.
PrimeStarNews gathered that some members of the Senate have started collecting signatures of members to call for an emergency meeting of Senate in reaction to the violent disruption of the process of appointing the new VC.
It will be recalled that on Wednesday October 28, 2020, members of the non-academic staff of the institution, under the auspices of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU)
The non-academic staff also bombarded the Senate Chamber of the University, thereby preventing the selection board from interviewing the six shortlisted applicants for the position.
The non-academic staff, who laid siege at the Senate Chamber of the University during the protest switched off the power supply and the only means of ventilation in the Chamber and prevented the Joint Council/Senate Selection Board from interviewing the applicants.
It was further gathered that they prevented members of the Selection Board and officers of the Federal Character Commission to leave the Chamber, where they were held hostage for nearly five hours until they forced the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of the Governing Council, Nde Joshua Mutka Waklek, to sign a letter suspending the process.
Also, the six shortlisted contestants were chased out of the venue with one of them, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, (Admin), Professor Kayode Adebowale injured when his head was hit by a stone.
The non-academic staff is demanding for the exclusion of Professors Adebowale and the former Vice Chancellor, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba, Ondo State, Olufemi Mimiko from the list of the six most qualified candidates.
