The management of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife has condemned in strongest terms the invasion of its premises by some occultic residents over the announcement of Prof. Adebayo Bamire as the 12th substantive Vice-Chancellor of OAU.
On Monday, some occultic residents suspected to be indigenes of Ile-Ife stormed the premises of OAU, with charms and other fetish objects.
The protesters blocked the two major gates leading to the campus, demanding for the appointment of an Ile-Ife indigene as the Vice-Chancellor of OAU.
The protesters who converged at the motion ground of the University Secretariat, dressed in all-white spiritual traditional attire, chanting incantations and performing rituals.
However, the school authorities in a release by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olarewaju, called for calm.
The PRO in the statement clarified that Bamire was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor following a credible exercise by the Joint Council and Senate Selection Board.
According to him, the score sheets of each assessor for the shortlisted candidates were dropped into an envelope and sealed with the signature of the Chairman of Council on each one.
The statement added, “At the end of the interaction, the sealed envelopes were opened one after the other and announced to all the members. The score sheets were thereafter passed around for sighting. Then, the scores of the candidates were collated with Microsoft Excel and ranked from the highest to the lowest.
“The candidate with the highest score was eventually announced as the Vice-Chancellor by the Governing Council.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no member of the Board had foreknowledge of each candidate’s score before the final collation at the end of the interaction.
“The University is aware of the false presentation of the alphabetical arrangement of the applicants as the authentic list of applicants’ performance where unfounded allegations have been made of changing the “leading” candidate.
“The University hereby affirms that due processes were followed and merit was the basis for the appointment of the new Vice-Chancellor.
“The University Management implores the leadership of Ile- Ife to please call these protesters to order so that the cordial relationship, which has been in existence, between the University and the Ile- Ife communities is not jeopardised.”
