FUOYE governing council suspends new VC appointment over 120 petitions

The governing council of the Federal University Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) has suspended the appointment of a new vice chancellor.

Kayode Soremekun, the current vice chancellor, is expected to hand over the position by February 2021.

This was disclosed in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES by the Deputy Director, Corporate Services of the institution, Adeyinka Ademuyiwa, on Thursday.

According to him, the process is being suspended, “to accommodate grievances and complaints of some stakeholders in the cancelled processes where over 120 petitions had been received.”

“A new process will commence shortly,” the statement reads.

“In a session presided over by Council Chairman, Dr Mohammed Lawan Yahuza on Wednesday December 9, 2020 where all members were in attendance including officials of the National Universities Commission, NUC, members agreed to temporarily halt the ongoing process and thanked NUC officials for their support and encouragement.

“FUOYE Governing Council remains committed to credible, transparent, fair and just processes and is open to suggestions and corrections that will help deliver on this onerous assignment.

“Both Dr Yahuza and Vice Chancellor,Prof Kayode Soremekun wish to appreciate the diligence, steadfastness, commitment and patriotism of Council Members, Friends of FUOYE particularly NUC officials and those of the federal ministry of education for their unalloyed support in this critical moment.

“Since FUOYE is handling the processes of appointing the Vice-Chancellor for the first time, human errors are bound to occur in what is essentially a learning process. The good thing is that FUOYE Team is ever ready to correct such errors and deliver acceptable appointment processes.

“The Governing Council will recovene again today, Thursday December 10,2020 to chart the way forward to further underscore it’s unflinching and unshaken resolution to deliver credible, transparent, fair and just processes which will lead to emergence of a new Vice-Chancellor. I thank you for listening,” he ended.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that over 60 professors put in their applications for the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor.

The University’s management received applications from both private, public, federal and state universities across the country.

However, some groups have allegedly accused the Vice Chancellor and governing council of trying to favour the selection of their own candidate.