OAU VC appointment: Protesters storm campus with charms, fetish objects — PRO

…We’ve put security measures in place to douse tension — Management

Abimbola Abatta and Azeez Ismail

The protest staged against the appointment of Professor Adebayo Simeon Bamire as the 12th substantive Vice-Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) took a more dangerous dimension on Monday as the protesters, who are indigenes of Ile-Ife, stormed the campus with charms and fetish objects.

The protesters reportedly beat up some students whom they met at the gate while also blocking the two major gates as early as 6:00 a.m.

Recall that the protest started last Thursday shortly after the University Governing Council, led by its Chairman, Owelle Oscar Udoji, announced the Vice-chancellorship appointment of Bamire, who is a professor of Agricultural Economics.

Nigerian NewsDirect gathered that the protest was staged to reject the appointment of Bamire, who is not an indigene of Ile-Ife and forcefully install an Ile Ife indigene as the next Vice-Chancellor of the university.

“The protesters, who initially blocked the main gate of the University on the first day and threatened staff and students to stay away from campus,  became very violent the second day as they beat up workers, particularly the staff of the Security Unit, and vandalised their office at the Main Gate. Some of the security staff had to be taken to the University’s Health Centre for treatment,” the school management revealed.

Yesterday, the indigenes were said to have assembled at the motion ground of the University Secretariat, dressed in all-white spiritual traditional attire, chanting incantations while performing rituals.

Following the allegations that the “leading” candidate was changed, the University’s management, however, maintained that the appointment was merit-based.

According to a press statement by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olarewaju, “the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board shortlisted sixteen (16) candidates for the interaction for the post of Vice-Chancellor and the candidates whose names were arranged in alphabetical order, were called in for interaction and each was scored  by each member of the Selection Board.

“The score sheets of each Assessor for individual candidates were dropped into an envelope and sealed, with the signature of the Chairman of Council on each one.

“At the end of the interaction, the sealed envelopes were opened one after the other and announced to all the members. The score sheets were thereafter passed around for sighting.

“Then, the scores of the candidates were collated with Microsoft Excel and ranked from the highest to the lowest. The candidate with the highest score was eventually announced as the Vice Chancellor by the Governing Council.”

Olarewaju further noted that, “for the avoidance of doubt, no member of the Board had foreknowledge of each candidate’s score before the final collation at the end of the interaction.

“The University is aware of the false presentation of the alphabetical arrangement of the applicants as the authentic list of applicants’ performance where unfounded allegations have been made of changing the ‘leading’ candidate.

“The University hereby affirms that due processes were followed and merit was the basis for the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor,” he added.

The leadership of Ile- Ife were, therefore, urged to call the protesters to order “so that the cordial relationship, which has been in existence, between the University and the Ile-Ife communities is not jeopardised.”

Meanwhile, efforts to get reactions from Ooni of Ife’s Media Aide, Moses Olafare, on the incident proved abortive.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Osun State Command, SP Yemisi Opalola, said the command had deployed some security measures to douse the tension in Ile-Ife.

She added that the command is working assiduously to make sure peace is maintained in the ancient town and its environment.

Opalola charged the protesters to allow the concerned stakeholders to find lasting solutions to their demand, urging them not to destroy public properties, which she said belongs to all populace and unborn children.

“We have deployed police personnel to the area and the Area Commander was even there by himself and even the Commissioner of police also visited the place. The protest or violence is not the best answer to any situation,” she said.