A fresh crisis is brewing at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) over an election scheduled for Monday, March 22, to decide the second Representative of Congregation on the Governing Council of the institution.
Three candidates, Dr. Lukumon Adeoti of the Faculty of Science, Prof. Owolabi Kuye of Faculty of Management Services and Mr. Kayode Owotutu, a non-academic staff of the College of Medicine of University of Lagos (CMUL) are contesting in the election.
The UNILAG Governing Council has two representatives of Congregation, which is composed of all graduates of UNILAG who are staffers of the university.
The election scheduled for Monday is to elect the second Representative of Congregation. An earlier election in October 2019 was organised to elect the first Representative.
However, there are fears that the adoption of e-voting by the Prof. Toyin Ogundipe-led management as method of casting ballot could jeopadise the integrity of the outcome of the election.
Tongues are also wagging that one of the contestants who happens to be an alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife could be the candidate favoured by the Management, given that the Vice Chancellor himself, Prof. Ogundipe is also an alumnus of OAU. Both Adeoti and Owotutu are graduates of UNILAG.
Many members of Congregation are wondering why the Prof. Ogundipe-led management is again proposing to use e-voting when the system was rejected on October 2, 2019 and in-person voting had to be resorted to for election of the first Representative on Council.
A good number of members of Congregation are arguing that COVID-19 pandemic cannot be used as an excuse, as INEC conducted in-person voting in 2020 in Lagos, Ondo and Edo States at periods the pandemic was raging.
Wondering whether UNILAG has more electorate than each of those states, many of these members of the Congregation believe adoption of e-voting is part of a grand plan by the Management to rig the election in favour of its prefered candidate.
This latest development is coming on the heels of the commencement of hearing of a lawsuit filed at the National Industrial Court in Lagos by Engineer Babatunde Oloko, the Director of Works, University of Lagos to challenge his forceful removal from office by the institution’s management.
In suit number NICN/LA/417/2020 filed by him on October 27, 2020, which hearing commenced on February 16, Engineer Oloko is asking the court, among other prayers, to stop the university management from preventing him from performing his duties as Director of Works, in accordance with the terms of his engagement.
He is also asking the industrial court to restrain the university management, headed by the University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, from forcibly ejecting him from his official quarters, and from repossessing his official car and laptop.
