A strongly worded message has been sent to Prof. Omololu Soyombo, that his status as an “acting vice-chancellor” cannot hold water. The message was delivered when he tried to address some section of the union and workers in the university on Wednesday, at the university senate building. Prof. Omololu sought to warm his way into their hearts by promising to address some salient welfare needs and improve learning conditions in the lecture theatres. But the Secretary-General of the Defenders for Transparency and Human Rights Group (DTHRG), Barr. Iyare Natama maintained that Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe remains the bonafide Vice-Chancellor of the University and nothing unless due process can change that. “We should be ready to resist impunity by those who feel they are above the law”, he stated. “Prof. Ogundipe cannot be clandestinely removed from office and people are sitting by and just watching; this is sheer injustice and should be resisted”, he stressed. Barr. Iyare disclosed that his Association was worried that an otherwise “private” disagreement had been allowed to degenerate to this level of abysmal gaffe. “If Prof. Ogundipe refused to concession the prestigious university of Lagos waterfront to interested individuals, should that lead to his removal?” he questioned. Somehow there are swirling rumours that a powerful key figure in the ouster of the VC had his sights trained on the juicy waterfront and had in fact made a request for its development. But Prof Ogundipe would not allow such a prime university property to fall into wrong hands and as such turned down the request. “What followed next was an engineered move to forcibly dislodge him from the office which shouldn’t be”, said Barr. Iyare. “We are in a democracy and should behave as such” remarked Iyare. Earlier, the highest decision making body of the university, the Senate has spoken that Prof. Ogundipe remained the Vice-Chancellor of the university and that the University Governing Council cannot literally remove the Vice-Chancellor. They said Prof Soyombo will not be recognised until the proper thing is done. Meanwhile, there are growing feelings that plans are underway to use force to eject him from his official residence. According to insiders, the feeling is that Prof Ogundipe will remain a threat unless evicted and thrown out of the campus. “Let them try it and see how we can react,” said Barr. Iyare. “It is now clear that the so-called allegations were mere trumped-up charges, or a smokescreen, a cover-up to covert university properties to personal use”, the lawyer added.
