By Steve Oni, Ilorin
The Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin (Unilorin), Prof Abdulganiyu
Ambali, has for the first time, reacted to the corruption allegations leveled against him and his predecessor, Prof Ishaq Oloyede by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Prof Ambali described the allegations of N2.5 billion fraud against him and current Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar as an attempt to embarrass their persons and Unilorin.
South West Zone of ASUU had not too long ago petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) accusing the duo of N2.5 billion pension scam and sundry allegations.
Speaking with journalists at the weekend in Ilorin, the Kwara state
capital, the Professor of vet medicine said: “All what they wrote there were cooked up because on the issue of Pencom, it has been trashed by the former VC, the person concerned. He has given details of what happened and when the amount was increased from N7.5 million to N8 million based on the circular we got we increased and members were adequately briefed.
“On the issue of PC tablets we have started distributing them a couple
of days ago and that will continue. And they talked about N2.5
billion. Where will I get such amount? It all sounds very funny to me and they are just out to embarrass our persons and Unilorin. They have tried to penetrate the university without success.
“Nobody will know your house more than yourself. For somebody
to be leveling allegations by proxy appears very unusual to me. But
most importantly, when I read the whole thing it was just like
somebody sitting down to cook up lies against another personality.
“These people have tried several times to invade Unilorin. They came trying to convince everybody that they wanted to carry the university along. They wanted to have Unilorin in their fold and I created the environment for them to interact with the stakeholders in the university. That was about three years ago. The stakeholders include the Academic Staff Union of Universities (Unilorin) branch on ground, the elders of the university and other stakeholders.
“Unfortunately that attempt didn’t see the light of the day probably
because of their approach, but I did what I had to do to introduce
them to the stakeholders.
“Then the national ASUU advised the remaining UNILORIN 49 sacked but later reinstated by court to go on membership drive as they are in the minority. Thereafter, they again strategised that they were coming to hold their zonal convention and I advised them to discuss with the ASUU on ground, because as far as I am concerned the security of Unilorin rests on my shoulders.
“If minority is coming to hold a convention within a majority that is
not ready to welcome them there was going to be confusion. I then said that the time we were then was not ripe for them to come and hold that kind of meeting on our campus.
“Probably they were not happy with that advice, their next step was to
mobilise all the ASUU members within the zone to force themselves on campus even when the session was on. When I heard this I said that would cause chaos within the campus. That was when that attempt was resisted.
“They also made several contacts with several people that could force me to open up the gate and allow them, but I told the people the
situation on ground then. They didn’t like that.
“The next thing was for them to meet and embarrass by writing petition against us. They know that the President Muhammadu Buhari
administration is zero tolerant to corruption.
“When you look at the school in relation with what they have been doing in the last four years, even a blind man will know that the institution has changed positively and the promise I made which I still adhere to is that I want to leave the university better than I inherited it.
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