Another crisis looms in FUNAAB as Registrar dares Vice-Chancellor

…Oyewole appoints acting Registrar to spite Ayoola

ANOTHER crisis has engulfed the troubled Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) in Ogun State as the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, and the Registrar, Mr. Matthew Ayoola, locked horns over internal administrative procedure.

The two officials are also at loggerheads over the decision of Oyewole to appoint an acting Registrar, Mr. Obafemi Oginni, who until Friday was the Deputy Registrar and Director, Office of Advancement at the university.

Trouble erupted between the two principal officers of the university when Ayoola requested the Governing Council, under the chairmanship of the erstwhile Pro-Chancellor, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, to grant his request to proceed on two months leave ahead of his full disengagement on June 1, 2017.

Ayoola in his capacity as the Registrar is also the Secretary of the Governing Council of the university.

It was learnt that the council approved Ayoola’s leave at its meeting, but Oyewole, who was said to be angry with the Registrar for allegedly giving tacit support to members of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) against him, rejected the request.

Instead, the Vice-Chancellor, who is facing 18-count charges of corruption alongside Ogunlewe and former Bursar, Mr. Moses Ilesanmi, ordered Ayoola last Friday to embark on immediate terminal leave of four months, the development which the registrar kicked against as procedurally deficient.

In fact, the Registrar accused the Vice-Chancellor of “doctoring” the decision of the council which he had earlier vetted on November 30, 2016, adding that officers of higher status, including him and Oyewole, can only go on accumulated leave towards the end of his or her tenure.

Apparently having gotten wind of Oyewole’s plan to immediately appoint Oginni last Friday as his successor, Ayoola, who initially requested for elongation of his tenure before his exit next year, but was rejected by the council, forwarded a letter with six points for consideration to alert the Vice-Chancellor on his “procedural error.”

He said: “Sir, the Vice-Chancellor’s minute of the attached refers, and I wish to note and state as follows that the approval referred to by the Vice-Chancellor was premised on the request made to the Governing Council by the Registrar.

“The Registrar’s request to the Governing Council was to be allowed to proceed on part of his accumulated leave and NOT the whole.  Please see minute 1507.5.1 of the Governing Council minute already vetted by the Vice-Chancellor on November 30, 2016,” the Registrar said in the memorandum, adding: “The Vice-Chancellor would vividly recall that the verbal request made by the Registrar was approved as presented without modification or contribution by members of the Governing Council.”

“At no point in time on the floor of the Governing Council was accumulated leave of four (4) years mentioned,” Ayoola, a Justice of Peace (JP), who came to the university from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, added.

He stressed: “One wonders, therefore, that the Governing Council would approve what was not before it!”

“Vice-Chancellor’s reframing of minute 1507.5.2 is clearly at variance with 1507.5.1!” Ayoola also emphasised, adding that in addition to his earlier points raised, “it should also be noted for the records that accumulated leave for Principal Officers, Vice-Chancellor inclusive, should be enjoyed by the officer at the end of his/her tenure.”

He then declared: “The circumstances in which we found ourselves in this system brought about the need for the request ab initio.  For this reason, the issue of threat or force as perceived in the Vice-Chancellor’s minute is really NOT necessary.”

The Registrar told his boss that in the circumstance they found themselves only two options are visible, one of which is that the “Governing Council is made to resolve the seeming ambiguity in the approval and re-affirm its decision before I could proceed on either part or full accumulated leave.”

In the alternative, Ayoola declared that his request for noting communicated via memo Ref. No. FUNAAB/REG.55A/VOL.V/16/405 dated 28th November, 2016 should be upheld, while he awaits further directives of Oyewole after his clarification.

Reliable source confirmed that Ayoola has vowed to resist any attempt by Oyewole, who is the President, Association of African Universities (AAU) and Founder cum General Overseer of the Glorious Heights Bible Church, Abeokuta, to force him to embark on the terminal leave.

“The Registrar is vowing to stay on, insisting that only the Governing Council can give final directive.  And technically, for now there is no council following the resignation of Ogunlewe,” the source said.

He added: “The rule of the Governing Council on quorum for meetings stipulates that the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council must be present.  But Oyewole is hell-bent and may use the university security to forcefully remove the Registrar from his office so as to appoint a lame duck in acting capacity.”

“Definitely, this is another ‘war’ unfolding.  The way it is right now, our university is having two registrars,” the reliable source, who claimed that Oginni collected his letter of promotion on Monday, further said.

When contacted on the development, the Head, Directorate of Public Relations, Mrs. Emi’ Alawode, was not forthcoming.

“Not aware of the said tussle please,” Alawode merely said.

Last Thursday, the imminent crisis over the decision of Oyewole to send the Registrar on terminal leave, contrary to the request of Ayoola to proceed on two months leave.

The order, according to university source, do not go down well with Ayoola who claimed that only Governing Council could ask him to proceed on terminal leave ahead of the end of his tenure, which expire on June 1, 2017.

The Governing Council at its last meeting rejected the request of the Registrar, who moved to FUNAAB from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, to elongate his stay beyond his tenure next year.