The Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, whose appointment was terminated by the institution’s Council on Wednesday, has said that the Council’s decision is null and void.
According to him, he remains the varsity’s VC.
The Council announced the removal after a meeting, although there have been some dissenting voices from it too.
Ogundipe, who has been at loggerheads with the Pro-Chancellor, Dr Wale Babalakin, said the Council did not follow due process.
He said in a statement:
“The attention of the University of Lagos management has been drawn to the ‘Notice to the General Public on the Removal of the Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos’ dated August 12, 2020 and signed by Oladejo Azeez, Esq, Registrar and Secretary to Council, stating that the current Vice Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin T. Ogundipe, FAS has been removed from office with immediate effect,” the statement read.
The purported removal is an illegality and cannot stand as it is in clear violation of the University of Lagos Act, as amended.
Assuming without conceding, that the purported removal is true, the extant provisions of the law have not been complied with.
For with the avoidance of doubt, the University Act states that: ‘if it appears to the Council that there are reasons for believing that the Vice Chancellor… should be removed from his office… on the grounds of misconduct or inability to perform the functions of his office… the Council shall… a. Give notice of those reasons to the person in question; b. Make arrangements: For a joint committee of the Council and the Senate to investigate the matter where it relates to the Vice Chancellor… and to report on it to the Council…
Therefore, stakeholders of UNILAG and the general public are advised to disregard this mischievous disinformation about the sitting Vice Chancellor of UNILAG.
Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, FAS still remains the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos.”
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