Some union members at the University of Lagos marched with Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe on Thursday, protesting his sack as Vice-Chancellor.
The University’s Governing Council on Wednesday had announced the removal of Professor Ogundipe as Vice-Chancellor.
However, the union members – from the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT), and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU) – asked the Federal Government to rescind the sack.
They gave their position after a Congress held on Thursday at the University.
READ ALSO: UNILAG Governing Council Fires Vice-Chancellor Ogundipe
In a joint communique produced after the meeting, the Unions said “the council violently and most lawlessly violated the law in the said removal of the Vice-Chancellor.”
They added that no notice had been served to Prof. Ogundipe on the allegation against him, no fact-finding mission was set up and no formal report was produced to substantiate the sack.
They concluded that the Professor hadn’t been afforded a fair hearing.
Professor Ogundipe’s sack was announced after a meeting of UNILAG’s Governing Council chaired by the institution’s Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Dr. Wale Babalakin.
The meeting was held on Wednesday at the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The Federal Ministry of Education, however, said it is yet to be briefed on the developments at UNILAG.
It, however, affirmed that the university’s council has the power to hire and fire, but that due process must be followed in doing so.
Channels Television learned that seven members of the council voted for Professor Ogundipe’s removal, while four others voted against it; one member voted that the Vice-Chancellor should rather be placed on suspension.
In a memo dated August 12 and signed by the Registrar and Secretary to the Council, Oladejo Azeez, Professor Ogundipe was “lawfully removed by the Governor Council at a meeting fully attended by all members.”
Azeez also announced the appointment of Professor Theophilius Omololu Soyombo of the Faculty of Social Sciences as Vice-Chancellor of the University “in an acting capacity.”
