Headline

UNILAG: Trouble in the Ivory Tower

Published

6 years ago

August 14, 2020

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

The anticlimax of a series of skirmishes involving the Pro-Chancellor, Prof Wale Babalakin and Vice Chancellor, Prof Oluwatoyin Ogundipe of the University of Lagos, came to a head during the week when the Registrar, and Secretary of the Governing Council of the apex institution, Oladejo Azeez Esq, released a notice, intimating the general public of the removal of Prof. Ogundipe as the Vice Chancellor.

The notice stated that “the decision was based on council’s investigation of serious acts of wrong doing, gross misconduct, financial recklessness and abuse of office” against the VC.

The council’s meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the National Universities Commission, Abuja, had in attendance at least 11 council members, including Ogundipe. Reports available to the Boss, says majority of the attendees voted for the removal of Ogundipe.

A source told The Boss that both the university’s governing council and the management have been embroiled in irreconcilable conflicts for as long as one can remember, but the whole thing reached a climax in March when its week-long 2020 convocation was abruptly cancelled just before it started.

The cancellation, which was ordered by the NUC, Nigerian universities’ regulatory body, was reportedly in response to a directive by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu.

Adamu’s directive, the Boss was told, was in response to a letter written to the vice-chancellor by the council chairman, accusing Ogundipe of keeping the council in the dark as regards important details about the ceremony. The postponement of the most important ceremony in the school’s academic calendar brought to the open the unhealthy rivalry that bedeviled the administration of the cherished institution.

Shortly after the council’s letter made the rounds, Prof. Ogundipe circulated a rebuttal, rubbishing the sack notice, saying it was untrue and a figment of the imagination of the writer. He urged stakeholders to disregard the ‘mischievous disinformation’, affirming that he was still in charge. Meanwhile, the council had named a replacement in Prof Omololu Soyombo, being emboldened by the Federal Government’s assertion that the council has the right and power to hire and fire.

“My dear colleagues, the Federal ministry of Education wishes to state that it is yet to be briefed on the developments at the University of Lagos regarding the purported removal of the VC.

“While the ministry awaits proper briefing from the university authorities, it is important to reaffirm that council has the power to hire and fire but that due process must be followed in doing so,” the FG noted.

When The Boss reached out to the Lagos Chairman of the UNILAG Alumni Association, Dr. Lukumon Adeoti, he mentioned that though the process of the removal can be questioned, the council is authorised to take such decision. He hinted that with the announcement of an acting VC, it is almost certain that the Ogundipe era is over.

“However”, he said, “the senate is in a session at the moment and everyone should await the outcome of the meeting while the Alumni will be meeting tomorrow (Friday) after which a definite statement will be made on the next step to be taken.”

Consequent upon the meeting, the Senate rose to reject the removal of Ogundipe as Vice Chancellor by the Governing Council. The emergency meeting which hosted over 80 members and chaired by former Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof. Chioma Ago, agreed that the removal of Ogundipe was in contravention of UNILAG’s regulation, as the Council removed the VC without giving him the opportunity to defend himself. They also rejected the appointment of Prof. Soyombo as Acting Vice Chancellor.

Among those who also kicked against Ogundipe’s removal were the academic and non-academic unions of the university as they went a step further by calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to dissolve the governing council. In condemning the appointment of an acting vice chancellor, the groups stated that there’s no room for any “surrogate VC”.

But Babalakin on Friday insisted that the sacking of Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as the school’s Vice-Chancellor by the Governing Council was fair and followed due process, adding that it was in the best interest of the university.

“I assure you that there was full compliance with the law in the removal of the Vice-Chancellor,” he said.

Efforts made by The Boss to speak with the Chairman, UNILAG branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Dr. Dele Ashiru, was not successful as his phone rang out without being picked. He however sent a message promising to call back, but never did.

The unions, in their statements faulted the process, saying that it is unheard of that a principal officer could just be removed on flimsy excuses without regard to laws. They said the UNILAG Act, as well as laws and practice of other universities not only in Nigeria but also in other civilised climes, prohibit such and subsequently held that Ogundipe’s sack is illegal based on the fact “that there was no notification to the vice chancellor concerning the allegations against him, no investigation panel set up to investigate the allegations in line with the university’s Act, lack of fair-hearing, no formal report from any investigative committee and no consideration of report of an investigative committee since none was set up as provided in the law.”

But the last has not been heard as while Prof Soyombo has declared himself acting VC and has assumed duties, the embattled vice chancellor have headed for the court in protest of the removal. Reports say that Ogundipe has briefed a leading constitutional lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome to challenge the purported removal from office and replacement.

He claimed that the Council breached all known rules of natural justice and Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution in purportedly removing him as VC.

“The present situation in our university should not be allowed to further degenerate. We craved and agitated for university autonomy. Now that we have it, we must not throw the bad water with the baby. We must avoid further degeneration of the present conundrum.”

But lending their voice to the matter, the Committee of Vice-Chancellors of Universities (CVC), speaking through its Secretary General, Yakubu Ochefu, also condemned the removal of the Vice-Chancellor and the appointment of Soyombo, saying it was without due process. It further frowned at the fact that appointed Acting VC was even chosen from outside the university’s three deputy Vice-Chancellors.

He said:

“The chairman of the council knows that the tenure of two members of the council has expired, so he waited for the members not to be in council to get the majority vote.

“It is like a hatchet job, we don’t want it to appear like that because of the integrity of (the) University of Lagos.

“The integrity is very high and we don’t want council members to degenerate to that situation.

“As it is now, we have a stalemate and it is looking more in favour of the university senate than the council.”

Ochefu’s stand bothered on the inability of the council to bypass due process in both removing the VC and appointing another in acting capacity.

“Unilag has three deputies, none of them was appointed as acting vice-chancellor but somebody else entirely.

“This is going to pose another problem, senate members will not allow such a person to chair their meeting because they don’t know him within the context of laws establishing universities,” he said.

He went further to explain to process to removing a sitting VC as follows:

“In the procedure for removing a vice-chancellor, you have to set up a joint council/senate committee.

“The vice-chancellor will be given the opportunity to defend himself; from there, a submission will be made to the council which will take a decision.

“As CVC, we advise the council to take a step back and allow the process of removing a vice chancellor, as established by the law, to take its course.

“It is a simple process. If it finds the man guilty, the council can remove him, but it should go through the normal process,” he said.

As things are, it is a trying period for the foremost university as daggers are drawn, ready to draw blood, thereby heightening the tension and trouble in the ivory tower.

Headline

The Search for Justice: ADC vs Tsoho

Published

2 days ago

June 8, 2026

Eric

By Eric Elezuo

From the first day the African Democratic Congress (ADC) took a new shape in July, 2025, in readiness to wrest power from the government of the day, crises, allegedly engineered by the President Bola Tinubu-led All Progressives Congress (APC), have remained its lot.

From the struggle for leadership positions to the fight to save itself from deregistration, the hitherto coalition and main opposition party, has remained in a battle for its life and existence. And has not relented in the search for lasting justice. This time, it has taken the law itself to court to ensure that justice is not only done, but seen to have been done.

It would be recalled that shortly after the the party ratified the election of Senator David Mark and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as Chairman and Secretary of the party respectively, skirmishes were noticed among the rank and file of the party as a supposedly former deputy national chairman of the party, Nafiu Bala Gombe, claimed chairmanship of party, saying that since the founding chairman had resigned, it is constitutionally incumbent upon him to automatically assume the chairmanship role.

Gombe’s claims came on the heels of his ‘resignation’ from office, which paved the way for a new national executive of the party to be constituted. But his claims did not deter the party from carrying on with the formation and running of the party, including holding a keenly contested presidential primary election, which produced His Excellency, the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. So Gombe went to court. Yet, Mark and Aregbesola carried on the running of the party.

As a result, Gombe had approached a court for an order restraining Mark leadership from parading themselves as leaders of the ADC pending the hearing and determination of his suit challenging their leadership.

He had also asked the court to issue another order against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), restraining it from recognizing the Mark leadership.

But in his ruling in the interlocutory application, Justice Emeka Nwite ordered Gombe to put the defendants on notice so that they appear before the court to show cause, why the application should not be granted.

Rather than appearing before the trial court to show cause, the defendant appealed to the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal, challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court to dabble into the matter they described as internal matters of the ADC.

The appellate court in dismissing the appeal for lacking in merit, ordered accelerated hearing in the suit and further ordered all parties to maintain status quo ante bellum.

Dissatisfied, Mark had approached the appellate court but, his appeal was dismissed and the matter returned to the trial court.

With the to and from nature of the cases involving the ADC leadership crisis, the party has accused judges of bias in favoring party detractors and disobedience to court rules among other malice, the party has taken a new route to obtain the much eluded justice, and that involves charging the custodians of the law to court.

Consequently, the ADC has filed a lawsuit before a High Court in Abuja involving the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, over concerns arising from the ongoing leadership dispute within the party.

Also joined in the suit is the National Judicial Council (NJC), which the party said had not addressed issues it raised regarding the handling of a case challenging the leadership of former Senate President, Senator David Mark, within the ADC.

The lawsuit, dated June 4, 2026, was filed by the National Welfare Secretary of the ADC, Nkemakolam Ukandu, who is seeking to be joined in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025 instituted by Nafiu Bala Gombe against the Mark-led leadership of the party.

According to the suit, Ukandu expressed concerns about the handling of the matter and alleged that the actions of both Justice Tsoho and Justice Peter Lifu, the judge assigned to hear the case, could affect confidence in the proceedings.

The lawsuit further stated that the assignment of the case to Justice Lifu stirred concerns among some members of the party, who believe the process may not guarantee a fair hearing.

The legal action marks a fresh twist in the leadership dispute within the ADC, which has attracted significant political attention ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Aside Justice John Tsoho, other defendants are the National Judicial Council (NJC), and Justice Peter Lifu, a judge newly assigned to hear the suit challenging the Senator David Mark-led leadership of ADC.

The plaintiff, who was seeking to be joined in the Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025, brought by Nafiu Bala Gombe against the Mark-led leadership, accused the chief judge and Lifu of manifest bias, and willingness to do the biddings of persons against the interest of the party.

Ukandu, in the suit he personally filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, faulted the chief judge for reassigning the suit to Lifu, in alleged disregard of the orders of the Supreme Court as well as Justice Emeka Nwite of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, who initially heard the suit brought by Gombe against the party.

The plaintiff, in the suit marked FHC/ ABJ/ CS/ 1165/2026, recalled that an appeal from an interlocutory decision of Nwite rose to the Supreme Court, wherein the apex court on April 30, 2026, “made an order of remittance of Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/1819/2025: Nafiu Bala Gombe VS. ADC & 4 ORS back to Justice Emeka Nwite for continuation of hearing of pending applications challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court.”

He stated that upon resumption of hearing before Nwite, the plaintiff wrote to the chief judge praying for a reassignment of the matter to another judge of the Honourable Court.

Ukandu stated, “All the defendants’ counsel, including counsel to the applicants seeking to be joined in this matter, opposed the said application by the plaintiff’s counsel and Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite thereafter adjourned the matter sine die pending the service of the said letter by the plaintiff’s on all the parties in the matter, outcome of the letter by the 2nd defendant and the furnishing of the CTC of the judgement of the Supreme Court to the court.

“Without complying with the orders of the Supreme Court and Hon. Justice Emeka Nwite, the 2nd Defendant in abuse of his judicial powers reassigned this matter,” to Lifu.

He added that the third defendant, on his part, pretending not to see the order of Nwite, went ahead and fixed the matter for hearing for June 3, 2026.

Ukandu further recalled that ADC had on May 7 informed the public through a press release that the chief judge had planned to reassign the case to another judge favourable to the plaintiff.

He said the party had “warned against such unethical practice but the 2nd Defendant despite the public outcry reassigned the suit to the 3rd Defendant who have been nick-named as ‘Wike Judges’.”

He stated that the third defendant had started presiding over the matter, despite taking judicial notice of the orders of the Supreme Court and Nwite, and that the matter came up for hearing before the third defendant.

Though neither the Federal High Court nor the National Judicial Council had publicly responded to the issues raised so far, it is imperative to to state that the ADC appears to have lost interest in both the judiciary, which it believe is kowtowing to the dictates of Gombe, and by extension the body language of the Federal Government.

The ADC appears to have managed to draw the sympathy of the public as a group known as the Grassroots Mobilization Network (GMN), has lent their voice to the supposed injustice leveled against the Mark-led ADC, raising concerns about the handling of the matter, and calling for transparency in the judicial process.

The group alleged that the judiciary was being used to target opposition parties.

The group expressed concern over what it described as growing public distrust in the judiciary and called on relevant authorities to ensure fairness and transparency in the handling of politically sensitive cases.

While Nigerians await the outcome of the litigation, and other resolution of other sundry issues arising from the ADC and the judiciary, the party is going ahead making last minute transparent efforts to nominate a suitable running mate to bear the presidential flag with the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.

Among the party’s shortlists are the first runner-up in the presidential primary, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Akinwumi Adesina, Emeka Ihedioha, Emeka Nwajiuba and Chief Dele Momodu.

Headline

Gunmen Abduct Ex-Power Minister Adelabu’s Sister, Her Two Sons in Ibadan

Published

6 days ago

June 3, 2026

Eric

Suspected gunmen have abducted the sister of a former Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

The family of former minister and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) confirmed the abduction, disclosing that Mrs. Olaide John-Paul and her 12-year-old twin sons were kidnapped by the gunmen on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.

According to a statement issued by Adelabu’s media aide, Femi Awogboro, the victims were kidnapped at about 7:30am while Mrs. John-Paul was taking her children to school.

Mrs. John-Paul, the youngest of five children of Mrs. Olufunmilayo Aduke Adegoke Adelabu, reportedly retired voluntarily from her career at First Bank Pension Custodian in 2025 before relocating to Ibadan with her children.

She was said to be making arrangements to join her husband, who had earlier relocated to the US.

The family expressed deep concern over the development but stated that security agencies had already commenced efforts to rescue the victims and apprehend those responsible.

“We are pleased to confirm that security operatives have swung into action and preliminary investigations have commenced in earnest,” the statement partly read.

While appealing for calm, the family urged members of the public to refrain from spreading unverified information that could undermine ongoing rescue operations.

“We are deeply distressed by this unfortunate incident, but remain hopeful that the victims will be rescued safely. We appeal to the public to remain calm, avoid speculation and support ongoing efforts with prayers,” the statement added.

The family also called on anyone with useful information that could aid the rescue operation to promptly share such intelligence with security agencies through the appropriate channels.

It assured that it would continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement authorities and provide updates as investigations and rescue efforts progress.

Headline

Adeboye Proposes 90 Days Ultimatum for Security Chiefs to Eradicate Terrorism or Resign

Published

7 days ago

June 3, 2026

Eric

The General Overseer of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has called on the Federal government to issue a 90-day ultimatum to security chiefs to end terrorism in Nigeria or step aside.

Adeboye made the appeal in a video shared on his X (formerly Twitter) account on Tuesday, expressing deep concern over the country’s deteriorating security situation.

He emphasized the need for urgent and decisive action, stressing that security chiefs must be held accountable for tangible results in the fight against terrorism.

According to him, while citizens can only advise the Commander-in-Chief, it is within the government’s power to set clear expectations and timelines for security leaders.

“If I were to make a suggestion, I would say the government should act swiftly and direct the service chiefs to eradicate terrorists within 90 days or resign,” he said.

The cleric also urged authorities to go beyond targeting terrorists alone, insisting that their sponsors must equally be identified and dealt with, regardless of their social or political influence.

“When issuing directives, it should be made clear that both terrorists and their sponsors must be eliminated, no matter how powerful they are,” he added.

Adeboye recalled that a former Nigerian president had once issued a similar three-month directive to security chiefs to end the Boko Haram insurgency but failed to enforce the order after the deadline expired.

Reflecting on his interaction with the late president, Adeboye noted that although initial efforts were made, the lack of follow-through undermined the directive’s effectiveness.

He maintained that his current recommendation is informed by that experience, urging the government to ensure strict enforcement if such a timeline is adopted.

His comments come amid renewed concerns over persistent terrorist attacks, banditry, and kidnappings across the country, with increasing public pressure on authorities to take stronger action against insecurity.