CAN THIS INFO BE REAL???? His story could be likened to that of King David in the Bible, who was surrounded by many adversaries as a successful king. Prof. Wale Omole is the first alumnus of the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife, Osun State, to be appointed the Vice Chancellor of his alma-mater. Since his resignation in 1999, so many controversies have trailed his eight-year tenure in the institution. This is against the backdrop of the crisis that claimed the lives of five students’ union leaders. In this no-holds barred interview with ESTHER BAKARE, Omole, for the first time ever, bares his mind on all that transpired during the period, among other interesting issues. Could you recall the circumstances surrounding your appointment as Vice Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, in 1991? About 33 years ago, precisely in 1980, I was promoted a professor and elected the first alumnus, dean of my faculty, in 1983. Someone leaked a discussion we had in the faculty room in 1983, where I said I was going to retire from the University of Ife as soon as I finished my deanship. But Prof Oluwasanmi, who was so important to me, invited me to Ibadan. I went to see him on his sickbed and he asked me about my plan to retire after my deanship. I said ‘Yes’, but he said I was too young to retire at 41. He added that the university needed me. So, he advised that I should shelve whatever plans I had then. So, I promised him that I would go back to the university. In 1989, the position of the VC of Ife was advertised. I did not apply because I was not interested in the job at that point. When the speculations that I was already shortlisted and that I was a front-runner for the position bombarded the mass media, I seized the quickest opportunity to address the press to clearly declare that I was not running for the job, whether at the rear or at the front. A candidate was eventually appointed to assume the office early 1990. But about mid-September, 1991, the position was, once again, vacant. Early 1991, I had applied for and was granted a leave of absence-that was a leave where I could be present in the university or anywhere but would not be paid any salary. However, my students requested me to continue to teach my courses, since I was going to be in the country and I agreed to handle only two subjects: one final year course and the other a post-graduate course. Back to the vacancy of the position of VC, after the struggle of whether to apply or not, I requested a friend, Prof. Olu Obi, to submit my application the last day and the last hour. The job of a VC in Ife, in those days, was a family sacrifice. Three weeks after the submission of my CV, by November 30, 1991, the NTA network news at 9.00p.m. carried my appointment as the first alumnus VC of my university. What will you describe as your major achievements during the period you held sway as the Vice Chancellor of the university? During my period as the Vice Chancellor, the university was number two in Africa for five consecutive years. Then, only Sterling burg in South Africa was ahead of us because it was purely a white university. At the time I became the Vice Chancellor, the image of the university, in terms of radicalism and violence, was very much. But because I was one of the foundation students and was involved in the students’ unionism, the Council thought they needed someone like me; so, I got the appointment. And for seven and a half years, cultism was not thriving. As a matter of fact, I had to dismiss a lot of cult leaders on the campus. Though they were hanging around on the pretext of students’ unionism, they were really penetrating students’ unionism for power. In July, 1999, there was a case of a serious crisis on the campus, where some cultists struck and murdered five students’ union leaders namely George Yemi Iwilade (a.k.a Africa), the then Secretary-General of the Students’ Union; Ekede Efe; Tunde Oke; Yemi Ajiteru and Eviano Ekelemu. But it has always been said that you masterminded their killing. How will you react to this? I have heard so many allegations that I was involved in the murder of those students. But let me, first of all, say this that the face-off was a case of cultists against cultists. There was no students’ unionism on the campus then. So, all those who were parading themselves as students’ union leaders were all cultists. I was a one-man army. The cultists were attacking one another. I did not allow that during my tenure. I made sure I rid the campus of cultism. Many of them were punished and expelled, but they were still parading themselves on the campus, though not as students. The whole story initially was sponsored because of the contest for the position of VC, which was really tight. Everyone wanted to be the Vice Chancellor when I was leaving because I had already indicated my resignation. I was already given a notice by the Council that I was retiring. Before I became the VC, there was a cult crisis and a student was killed in the Students’ Union Government building, which led to the removal of the then VC. I was not even in the country during the period you are talking about in 1999; I was abroad representing my country in some conferences. So, the story was sponsored. But before I returned from overseas, a lot of publicity had been done and the story had gone far. Do you suspect any one behind the attack on your personality? By the time I was leaving the post of the VC, 39 people had applied for the job because everyone thought it was an easy job and they wanted to take the glory of the image of OAU, being a first-class university. At the end of the day, seven people were shortlisted: four of them had served as my deputy Vice Chancellors at one point or the other and they were all committed, including my former student, Prof. Femi Ajibola, a bright, cerebral and productive young scholar. Indeed, I believed he was quite capable of taking the university to higher grounds. Regardless, I decided to remain functionally neutral so that others could judge him dispassionately. On the day of the selection, I informed the Council that I would be unable to participate in the selection process, so I drove out of town to my home in Ilesha to while away time. When the Council rose, the Pro- Chancellor, Hon Justice A.N Aniagolu (rtd), led the entire Council to announce the result that Prof Ajibola emerged as number one candidate. 11 of the 15 members scored him highest, when all the marks were added. Ajibola led by a clear margin. By the next day, the Council forwarded Prof. Ajibola’s nomination to the visitor as the next Vice-Chancellor. This, indeed, was the beginning of the problem of 1999. Some said Ajibola was only 45 years and was too young. A group made an attempt to eliminate Prof. Ajibola through an assassination attempt by cult boys. In fact, armed robbers were sent to my house in Ibadan twice, but I escaped. There is a group called the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) that has been sending stories to nullify your appointment as the Pro-Chancellor of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH). The group alleged you were never tried on the 1999 crisis. Isn’t this true? At that time, the Federal Government talked about setting up an investigating panel, but I said no that they should set up a judicial commission of enquiry. It was headed by the then Chief Justice of Akwa/ Ibom, Retired Justice Okon Etam, which means I could be jailed if found guilty. I had so many enemies then because I saw the university as my primus. To become the first alumnus to be appointed as the VC is never a joke; you are bound to have enemies, especially if you are succeeding. Like the Americans will say, ‘If you think everything is alright, it is because you don’t know what is going on’. It doesn’t work that way; some people will react and the reason I am saying this is for anyone who finds himself in a position to appreciate. If you think it’s easy and everybody is happy with you, then, you are wasting your time. To work in a university and take such to the position of first-class and then to be succeeded by your own student, you think people will be happy with you? I was tried and found not guilty and I was even given a national honour of the Order of the Federal Republic. Most of these boys in the ERC are young boys who were probably in the primary schools when the whole thing happened. They are just writing everything that was downloaded to them. They were not there. It was what they were told by their sponsors that they are writing about; they don’t know what they are saying. But the evil doers achieved what they wanted because Prof Ajibola never became the VC. He was advised to step down on security grounds. If I were that bad as I was painted, would all the graduates of University of Ife appoint me as the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the alumni association? Those in the Diaspora voted for me to be the chairman. If my records were not clean, I don’t think all the alumni would be so stupid to make such an appointment. Given the present state of education in Nigeria, how will you compare it to what obtained your days? Nigerian universities are no longer in the first 1,000 in the world; it is too bad. Government does not put the right emphasis on education and we cannot develop without education. Our lecturers are the lowest paid in the world, whereas our Senators are the highest paid in the world. What an irony! ASUU will go on strike when they hear that the legislators, most of whom were once their students, earn 20 times of their own salaries, including allowances. What do you think is the way forward? The way out is that there should be full autonomy for the university; they should be able to decide what subventions should be given to them. Until we make the universities fend for themselves, work and fund themselves from various organisations through research findings, for both private and public sectors, then, we will remain where we are. If the government is not funding education properly, then, it is a case of cutting the nose to spite your face because education is the magic wand that grows everything; everything wraps around it. Then, to the parents and every other individual, I want to say education is too important to be left to the government and politicians. All hands must be on the deck to move the sector forward.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 21:51:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015