UNIOSUN Alumni Demands Apology From VC Over Comments

 

Kazeem Badmus 

THE Alumni Association of the Osun State University has described as ridiculous, deceitful and unacceptable, the statement credited to the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor Lapode Popoola that he inherited a university where “anything goes.”

In a statement signed by the Alumni association President and Secretary, Kabir Oriola and Abdulbasit Abubakar, the Alumni told Popoola that the school had witnessed tremendous achievements and laurels won by ex-students before his appointment in 2016.

Popoola had in an interview said: “I didn’t inherit a university in the real sense. It should be published that the university I inherited was an ‘anything goes’ setting. The academic culture was completely missing, commercialisation of everything was the norm. Corruption was the order of the day…the students were lawless, they were involved in cultism and they were always in the news.”

In a sharp reaction, the Alumni association said UNIOSUN has since 2007 been a world-class varsity, not only in Nigeria but globally. 

The former students of the institution stressed that Popoola, whose tenure ends in less than two weeks, should retract his statement and apologize to the founding fathers of the institution who laboured hard to build the ivory tower since its inception.

The statement titled, “Settings The Record Straight, A Rejoinder to Professor Labode Popoola, the Vice-Chancellor, Osun State University, “We wish to state that this statement is very deceitful, preposterous and an attempt to disparage the great efforts of the founding fathers and past stakeholders of the university and as well, the quality of the alumni of the university, many of whom have distinguished themselves in their respective chosen career paths across the world.

“However, we wish to state categorically that as a very respectable association, the alumni association is not willing to join issue with Professor Popoola, rather, we are interested in setting the records straight, and educating the general public against professor Popoola’s ill-conceived statement targeted at denigrating our highly prestigious Alma Mata.

“Since its establishment in 2007, Osun State University has maintained a reputation as a world-class citadel of learning, and a mill for cutting-edge academic research, innovation, and knowledge production. 

“This is not only contained in the dreams of the founding fathers but is also glaring through several academic feats, awards, and laurels achieved by the University within the first few years of its establishment.

“We also record with pride, the performance of our distinguished alumni in the Uniosun Debate Club who participated in several debate competitions in the early years of our University’s existence. 

“Uniosun was an undisputed Champion of Literary and Debate competitions during these days. In competitions such as the All Nigeria Universities Debating Competition held in 2014, 2015, and 2016, and also the Pan-African University Debating Championship in Ghana, our Alma Mata returned home with medals and awards that are characteristic of a great champion.”