The Senate of the University of Ibadan on Thursday held an emergency meeting to resolve the lingering crisis surrounding the election of the next Vice Chancellor of the University.
The meeting held at the instance of the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, Nde Joshua Waklek Mutka, which had 301 members of Senate in attendance, was to address the alleged discrepancies in the recent election of the two senate representatives on the Joint Council/Senate Selection Board for the Appointment of the New Vice-Chancellor.
Two aggrieved professors, Prof Ademola Dasylva (Department of English) and Prof A. Fasanmade (Department of Physiology) had challenged the process and outcomes of the election. In their petitions, they had accused the Technical Committee on e-Voting of bias, and manipulation of the process. In his second petition, Prof Dasylva also accused the Vice Chancellor of being biased in favour of a contestant.
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A statement by the Registrar and Secretary to Council, Olubunmi Faluyi, said the Chairman of Council directed the Senate to examine the petitions of Prof. A.O.Dasylva of the Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Prof. A. A. Fasanmade of the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, who lost in the election.
The statement read, “The meeting deliberated extensively on all the issues raised in the two petitions and the responses of those who were alleged in the petitions, namely Prof. Francis Offor, Prof. Abiodun Ayodele, Prof. Deji Omole, Prof. Ayodeji Ogunjuyigbe and Mrs. Morenike Afolabi, with proof of their innocence.”
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka, appealed to members to consider the meeting as a family gathering with optimism of amicable resolution of all matters.
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He said, “It is noteworthy that the meeting was frank, honest and transparent and in an atmosphere of civility. The resolutions of the meeting have been forwarded to Council for consideration.
“Members of the University community are hereby enjoined to be peaceful and law-abiding in anticipation of amicable resolution of the matters by Council.”
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Speaking at the end of the meeting, Prof. Oyebamiji Babalola of the Department of Chemistry noted that “It was a well-attended physical, Covid-19-compliant Senate meeting. It was a very peaceful, transparent and well-conducted meeting that showed the ingenuity of UI Senate members”.
Also commenting on the meeting, Prof Wole Olatokun of the African Regional Centre for Information Science, said it was “well-coordinated in an unbiased and transparent manner. Members were given opportunity to freely express their minds on all the issues about the election petitions brought before Senate. All the proceedings were transparently and dispassionately handled from start to finish”.
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