Friday, March 29, 2024

The 49 (419) liars: A rebuttal by Is-haq O. Oloyede

“They have no knowledge of such a thing, nor their fathers. Grievous is the word that comes forth from their mouth. What they say is nothing but falsehood” (Q18:5)

If I were a professor of English, I would have begun by repudiating the authors of the verbiage that generated this rebuttal, circulated last Wednesday and Thursday with sadistic frenzy in traditional and new media, as deranged, reckless, mischievous and psychopathic nincompoops. But as I am not, I would only take recourse to the Prophetic statement when he was unjustly persecuted on the day of Taif: God forgive them perhaps something good will come from their future generations.

In spite of the allusion to the Prophet Muhammad’s approach, I would not have condescended to dignifying the defamatory statements issued against my person with a response on three counts. The first count is one wouldn’t bite a dog simply because a dog has bitten one. The second is that as the issue was claimed to have been reported to the EFCC, which has the means to take the right course of action after establishing the prima facie of the case brought before it. The third is the need to twart the satanic objective of distracting me from a national assignment, which they protested but failed.

Nevertheless, given the avalanche of text messages, mail and phone calls I have received from all over the world, I realise that if I do not set the records straight, at least for those who believe in me and what I represent, like Dr Mahfouz Adedimeji of the University of Ilorin, whose appreciated prompt intervention was on point, I might not be fair to them. Secondly, the assassins did widely circulate and celebrate the ‘destruction’ of the victims beyond the EFCC and across nations; I therefore deserve to be heard.

In a period when common sense is no longer common, it would not be surprising that some people would not take effusions that are bereft of an iota of sense with a pinch of salt. So, the vituperations that “the 49 liars” and their mentors directed at me more than four years after I left office as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin are explained thus:

The Pension Act of 2004 provided that 7.5 per cent of emoluments should be deducted from staff salaries and remitted into their pension accounts with Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs). Most Universities, including UNILORIN, based the calculation on basic salary and transport allowance. This was the case between July 2004 and December 2006 before I became ViceChancellor. I know no PFA and if salaries were deducted and saved in employees’ account, I would not be the beneficiary.

Then, from January 2007, Government that is matching the employees’ contribution with another 7.5 per cent directed that it should be based on Consolidated Pay. Some universities were compelled by the fake and fraudulent campus hyenas not to comply with the directive of 2007. About two years into my tenure, my attention was drawn to the new decision, which was advantageous to workers whose higher sum was being equally matched by Government.

I convened a meeting of the stakeholders on the government directive and all parties agreed not only to commence on the higher savings (which Government doubles than doubling of lower contributions) but to also double the difference for certain number of months to ensure full compliance with the new directive was with effect from the stipulated January 2007. I summoned Ilorin representatives of all PFAs to reiterate the date of compliance from which higher matching grant should be credited to each contributors account.

As Vice-Chancellor, I started the practice of publishing financial transactions of the University every Monday in a publication circulated far and wide by hand and online. This has been sustained by my successor. Those who have skeletons in their cupboards don’t choose to publish financial details

Any educated person would understand who are the beneficiaries of the compliance would be, who for their tomorrow, sacrifice a part of today’s comfort, rather than the unreasonable agitators who insist on consuming tomorrow. Some Universities under the spell of some club crawlers did not comply till today to the eventual disadvantage of their unfortunate retirees. If those who parade doctoral degrees cannot understand this simple logic, may God save Nigeria from the anarchists. I, as Vice Chancellor, complied and I believe few other Universities did. How that would benefit me personally baffles me.

The subsequent introduction of IPSS made deductions by the university unnecessary. Government was making the deductions from the source and crediting the PFAs and these ignorant characters believe my successor should also be nailed on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Finance. There was no money the University deducted before then that that was not remitted to the accounts of the contributors. When grey areas arose, clarifications were made with the PFAs. For my own pension deductions, I also had to recently approach my PFA to be on the same page with them regarding my contributory pension.

Those who compare the contributions of two professors based on different interpretation suffer from selective amnesia, more so when professors are of different levels. Some senior lecturers earn higher basic pay than some professors based on the number of years they have spent on their ranks. Why did they hide this fact as a possible factor for disparity in intra-university or inter-university disparity? Why would supposed academics not start from PENCOM for genuine information before unilaterally declaring UNILORIN guilty and celebrating insubordination?

I am extremely selective in accepting gifts from even personal friends. My needs are limited and my legitimate income is sufficient to spend on my volunteer work. I have never in my life collected bribe, inflated contract, extorted nor accepted gift beyond thank you card from any contractor dead or alive.

As Vice-Chancellor, I started the practice of publishing the financial transactions of the University every Monday in a publication circulated far and wide by hand and online. This has happily been sustained by my successor to-date. Those who have skeletons in their cupboards don’t choose to publish their financial details. I am aware many universities don’t do so till today and the charlatans who make frivolous allegations against me should mention their mentors who do so.

Information Technology is good to determine the quality of the hirelings assembled to assassinate my character. The only one I faintly know among them led his fatherin-law, a former Vice-Chancellor of a foremost Nigerian University, to me to mount pressure on me to offer his wife a Vice Chancellor’s temporary appointment as an Assistant Lecturer. I bulged to pressure out of deference to the father-in-law but have since become an advocate of withdrawal of power of temporary appointment of the Vice Chancellors!!!

I do not claim perfection, as it is the exclusive preserve of the Almighty Allah. But I dare say I stand on a higher pedestal than “the 49 liars” and their masters. God will continue to keep them busy and they shall continue to lament their failure at the University of Ilorin and in life precipitated by their own inner insolvency. The barking of dogs does not affect the flight of a plane.

This statement is just to re-assure my admirers that the allegations against me are like pure wind with no solidity. I remain who I have ever been by the special grace of Allah, the Almighty.

Lastly, my explanation does not foreclose the possibility of legal action against the authors of the campaign of calumny against me and their willing collaborators. For the latter, I hope they will have the shame of publishing my rebuttal and if they don’t, I still believe it will reach all the right audience, anyway.

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