Vice Chancellor of Osun State University, UNIOSUN, Professor Labode Popoola, has said he would prefer to resign rather than allowing anti-graft activities by some officials of the university to stand.
According to him, his refusal to cease anti-graft war has been the major reason behind the persistent crises in the university, saying, he would never trade peace for fraud no matter the petition, allegation or protest against his leadership.
Addressing journalists at Osogbo campus of the university last Friday, Popoola maintained that he would not do anything that will spoil his reputation in the name of peace.
The VC said some high-ranking officials of the institution have deepened their hands into fraudulent activities and his efforts to fight such cases have been attracting unwarranted responses from those affected.
“I will not trade peace for fraud. I will rather resign and go. I’m not going to collide with fraud. They were spending about N11million to conduct exam before I resumed. We are spending less than N3million now”.
Professor Popoola described the recent release by the National Public Relations Officer of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria University (SSANU) on UNIOSUN as bias and inappropriate defence towards members of SSANU who are subsidiary members of Joint Action Committee, JAC.
Speaking on the agitation of the SSANU, Popoola said, “a former Secretary of NASU in the person of Mr Olugbeja was illegally awarded a Tetfund Grant for a conference in the USA but unfortunately, he absconded. His monthly salaries were not stopped until due process was followed.
“NASU Chairman, Mr. Isaiah Fayemi, got himself entangled in a financial mess involving missing booklets of receipts of the University. All these occurred before my assumption of duties in November 2016. Management approved the report of the investigative panel that Mr. Fayemi and others involved in the receipt booklet scam should face the Staff Disciplinary Committee (SDC). Since that decision was taken, the university has not known peace”.
The VC explained that Olugbeja’s pay was stepped down by the audit department and the stoppage of his payment necessitated an agitation from NASU thus culminated into a physical assault on the former Acting Head of Internal Audit by NASU member.
He explained that the order of the governing council of the university that all non-academic staff members below level 13 should sign a register on daily resumption was also disobeyed on the order of JAC leadership.
He said the disobedience had led to the disruption of activities in the university, thus making the institution to lose N120million Tetfund Special Grant and other losses.
The university VC said the JAC also refused to write apology letter as directed by the governing council and instead went ahead to disrupt the 2018 convocation by shutting down the university gates, thus preventing the Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, former Governor Rauf Aregbesola and other eminent personalities from entering.
He noted that the crisis is not likely to end because he would not bend rules.
