By Kamil Opeyemi
The opposition party in Osun State, the All Progressives Congress has kicked over the appointment of new principal officers for Ilesa University by Gov. Ademola Adeleke.
Adeleke had on Thursday in a statement by his spokesperson Olawale Rasheed announced the appointment of Prof. Taiwo Asaolu from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of the university, while Mr. Funso Ojo was named the Registrar of the institution.
Other principal officers appointed by Adeleke include, Dr. Mukaila Oyekanmi as Bursar, while Mr. Adewale Ogunsipe was appointed Liberian.
Reacting to the appointment, the acting Chairman of APC in Osun, Tajudeen lawal in a statement signed by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi accused Governor Ademola Adeleke of terminating the appointments of the principal officers of the University of Ilesa made by his predecessor, Adegboyega Oyetola.
He said Oyetola before leaving office appointed Prof. Kayode Ijaduola, the VC of the university, while Mr Oluwole Dada and Dr Adedokun Ojelabi, were appointed as the Registrar and Libertarian respectively.
He described the development as “reckless”, adding that the action of the new governor was an “apparent show of bitterness and debilitating struggle to rubbish the legacy of his predecessor simply because they share different political ideals.”
Lawal said the new university of Ilesa being a creation of the law has made the removal of the tenured principal officers duly approved by a governor an illegality.
“I doubt it if the law that established the University of Ilesa grants the state government the power to remove or appoint the Vice-Chancellor and principal officers of the university without the recommendation of the Governing Council,” the statement read
“The process of the appointment of the new principal officers of the Ilesa University is crude, illegal, and stinks to high heavens as it would be an impossible Utopia for it to surmount legal firepower in any court of law.
“The sack is not only reckless but a bad precedent. It is another further indication that the Adeleke administration lacks governance basics. History will not be fair to those who are thinking for this administration as there is hardly a government policy that has been gotten right by the obviously embattled Adeleke government.”
“Adeleke has a convincing explanation to make to the parents, guardians and candidates why the precious time, money and opportunity of the supposed first intakes of the university were deliberately bungled by him through the playing of politics of bitterness.”
He stated that the management of an institution of higher learning should not only be devoid of political interference but the process of the appointment of such an institution should not be at variance with international best practices.
He described the current administration in Osun under Adeleke as a bundle of disappointment that daily relishes in poor showing in all fronts.
“For lack of not knowing what to do, it is in the public domain that the Adeleke administration engages in financial recklessness, lack of managerial capacity, disregard for financial prudence, wasteful and extra-budgetary spendings, among others in the last five months of his government,” he added