Eight of the 16 contestants for the position of Vice-Chancellor, University of Ibadan, are billed to participate in a scheduled town hall meeting slated for today (Monday) in the build up to the final selection of a new VC for the institution.
This is as eight of the 16 contestants for the position of Vice-Chancellor in the University withdrew their participation from the scheduled town hall meeting.
An in-house person (preferred anonymity), reportedly disclosed that eight of the contestants had withdrawn their participation.
The source said that some of the applicants wrote to excuse themselves from the community forum owing to various reasons.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the town hall meeting tagged, ‘The voice of the next UI VC, who is next?’ organised by the UI community forum, was scheduled to hold today, October 4.
The platform is for staff, students and other members of the university community to meet the aspirants, listen to them and ask questions.
Those who withdrew from the meeting were Prof. Babatunde Salako, Prof. Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, Prof. Clement Olaniran, Prof. Olusegun Ademowo, Prof. Temitope Alonge and Prof. Emiola Olapade-Olaopa.
Others are the current acting VC , Prof. Babatunde Ekanola, who may not attend due to an official engagement outside Ibadan; and Prof. Ebenezer Farombi, who had refused to send his details to the organisers.
Ekanola was appointed acting VC in November, 2020, by the Senate, for a period of six months due to the crisis that trailed the succession plan of the former Vice-Chancellor, Idowu Olayinka.
Ekanola’s tenure was extended in June 2021 for another six months due to the failure of the last council to appoint a substantive VC for the 73-year-old institution.
The process commenced afresh after a decision was reached at a meeting of the university council, presided over by its new Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.
A reason that was given by the contestants was that the earlier complaints raised were still not addressed.
One of the contestants had alleged in a previous petition that an elected Senator had sent in an SMS congratulating an anointed VC candidate in an ongoing selection process.
The petitioner described the action as premeditated, urging the new council to guard against it.
Other allegations against the earlier process was the identification of some unconfirmed staff among the 153 elected as congregation members to the Senate, and manipulation by the authorities, to favour a particular anointed candidate.
Another area of concern was the sudden entrance of the acting Vice- Chancellor into the race. This, they
said, was unethical.
The UI council has indicated its resolve to produce a substantive Vice-Chancellor by October 14, in line with its revised time table.
The screening to select six out of the 16 contestants is to hold on October 13 after the election of October 12.
The council would do the final selection of the six, interview them and ratify the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor on October 14.
The 16 contestants in the race are Ekanola, Raji-Oyelade, Olapade-Olaopa, Alonge, Olaniran, Farombi, Ademowo, Salako, Prof. Abideen Aderinto, Prof. Kayode Adebowale, Prof. Hakeem Faweyinmi, Prof. Rasaq Kalilu, Prof. Anthony Kolawole, Prof. Oladele Layiwola and Prof. Nazeem Mimiko.
