UNIOSUN: University law should not be tailored to its occupant

The Osun State Government and the Osun State House of Assembly owe the people a clear explanation for the proposed alteration of the tenure rules governing the Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University. A law that expressly limits the Vice-Chancellor’s tenure to five years and excludes reappointment should not be altered casually, especially when the proposed change has immediate consequences for a sitting occupant of the office.

The Osun State House of Assembly has passed the Osun State University Establishment Amendment Bill 2026 at third reading, paving the way for its transmission to Governor Ademola Adeleke for assent. The Bill was passed on Thursday during plenary presided over by the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Adewale Egbedun, following consideration and amendment of its provisions. The timing of the legislation deserves particular attention.

Governor Adeleke reportedly announced a two-year extension of the tenure of Professor Clement Adebooye during the inauguration of the university’s Governing Council. Professor Adebooye assumed office as Vice-Chancellor in January 2022 and is expected to complete his initial five-year tenure in January 2027.

The existing law could hardly be more explicit. Section 3(2) of the Osun State University Establishment Law, 2006, provides that the Vice-Chancellor shall hold office for five years and shall not be eligible for reappointment.

Yet the Assembly is now moving to amend the law in circumstances that have inevitably connected the legislative exercise with the reported extension of Professor Adebooye’s tenure. That connection makes transparency indispensable.

The motion for the adoption of the Amendment Bill was moved by the Deputy Majority Leader, Hon. Adekunle Emmanuel, representing the Irepodun/Ilobu State Constituency, and seconded by Hon. Olawale Oladipupo Akerele, representing the Ilesa West State Constituency.

During the Committee of the Whole, lawmakers painstakingly considered the provisions of the Osun State University Establishment Amendment Law 2026 and effected the necessary amendments. The Bill was subsequently read for the third time and passed by the House. It is now expected to be transmitted to Governor Adeleke for his assent.

There is, of course, nothing inherently objectionable about amending a law. Legislatures exist partly to revise statutes when experience demonstrates that an existing provision is inadequate or when changing circumstances demand a new legal framework. The important question is the reason for the change.

If Osun State has concluded that the tenure arrangements governing its state university require reform, the Assembly should explain the institutional problem it is seeking to solve. If there is a compelling academic or administrative case for retaining Professor Adebooye beyond January 2027, that case should be stated openly. The public should be able to distinguish a carefully considered reform of university governance from an amendment whose immediate practical effect is to accommodate an individual officeholder.

This distinction matters because university laws are supposed to provide continuity beyond individual administrations and personalities.

The concern is reinforced by the position of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Osun State University chapter. The union has wisely declined to pronounce definitively on the reported extension until the development is officially confirmed.

Dr Wende Olaosebikan, the chapter’s chairman, said the union would be guided by verified facts, consultations and the advice of its elders. He explained that the union had heard reports of the extension and, after discussions, had been led to understand that it was an offer which had not actually been accepted by the direct beneficiary.

The matter was discussed at the union’s congress on Tuesday, 1 September 2026. According to Olaosebikan, the union examined the Osun State University Establishment Law and found that its provisions do not provide for an extension of the Vice-Chancellor’s tenure. That observation is important.

Olaosebikan said the law provides for an extension of one year for the university librarian, bursar and registrar, but that the privilege does not extend to the Vice-Chancellor. He further said the union examined the university’s “Mycelinus Act” of the National Assembly and the National Universities Commission and found no provision allowing an extension of tenure for any principal officer of the university.

Those claims require careful legal verification by the relevant authorities. They should not simply be brushed aside because the Assembly has commenced the amendment process.

The ASUU chapter’s reluctance to act on hearsay is particularly appropriate. Olaosebikan said the union did not want to act on media reports and wanted first to establish the facts. He added that the Vice-Chancellor understood the appropriate course of action and that the union believed he would do the right thing. That same discipline should guide the government and the legislature.

Governor Adeleke should resist any temptation to treat the Assembly’s passage of the Bill as the end of the matter. Assenting to legislation carries a responsibility to ensure that the law is sound, its purpose is defensible and its consequences are consistent with the public interest.

The Assembly, for its part, should be prepared to explain the amendment in terms that ordinary citizens can understand. What precise provision is being changed? Why is the existing five-year, non-renewable tenure considered inadequate? Why does the amendment become necessary at this particular point? Is the new provision intended to apply generally to future Vice-Chancellors, or does its practical effect centre on the incumbent? These questions are legitimate because public universities are public institutions.

Their governing laws should not become instruments whose meaning changes whenever an administration encounters an inconvenient statutory limit. Such a practice would weaken the predictability that institutions need and create a dangerous precedent for future governments.

There is also a question of institutional confidence. Universities depend heavily on the credibility of their governing structures. Academics, students, administrators and external stakeholders need to know that appointments and tenures are determined according to rules that are stable and intelligible. When a rule governing a principal office is altered while its application to a particular incumbent is already under discussion, the authorities should expect scrutiny. That scrutiny should not be interpreted as opposition to Professor Adebooye personally.

If the Vice-Chancellor has performed well and the university has compelling reasons to retain his services, those achievements and reasons can be presented without difficulty. A strong case for an extension should survive transparency. Indeed, the stronger the case, the less reason there is for opacity.

The same principle applies to the amendment itself. If the Assembly genuinely believes that the existing law contains a defect, it should say so and establish a general framework that will serve Osun State University long after the present political and administrative actors have left office. That is the standard required of responsible lawmaking.

The Governor should therefore subject the Bill to the fullest legal and institutional scrutiny before assenting to it. The Assembly should clarify the rationale and scope of the amendment. The Governing Council should ensure that the university’s interests remain at the centre of the process. ASUU and other stakeholders should continue to demand facts while resisting the temptation to reach conclusions before the legal position is settled.

Osun State University deserves better than a controversy over whether its laws can be stretched to accommodate a particular tenure arrangement. It deserves statutes that are clear, consistent and capable of commanding confidence irrespective of who occupies the Governor’s office, the Governing Council or the Vice-Chancellor’s seat.

Professor Adebooye’s future at UNIOSUN will eventually be decided. The more enduring question is what kind of institution Osun State wants its university to be.

The answer should be clear: a university where merit can be defended, leadership can be scrutinised and laws can be amended when necessary, but where statutory rules are treated with sufficient seriousness that their alteration requires a compelling public-interest case.

The proposed amendment therefore deserves more than a routine legislative passage and executive assent. It deserves openness, legal clarity and a convincing justification. The credibility of UNIOSUN’s governance depends on nothing less.