There were strong indications on Tuesday that the Vice Chancellor of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Prof. Adeniyi Gbadegesin, alongside other principal officers of the institution have been sacked.
Others said to have been affected were the Registrar, J. A. Agboola; Bursar, Prince A.B.C. Olagunju; and Librarian, I.O. Ajala.
Reports had it that Monday’s meeting of the Governing Council of the institution asked the affected officers to proceed on leave with immediate effect.
The officers were alleged to have been indicted by the recent KPMG report, which probed the finances of the embattled institution jointly owned by Oyo and Osun States Governments.
But the institution’s Head, Public and Alumni Relations Unit, Lekan Fadeyi, said the principal officers, led by the vice chancellor, were not relieved of their jobs.
Fadeyi claimed they rather sought for a statutory vacation from the Governing Council of the institution at its meeting of Monday.
According to the statement signed by Fadeyi: “Attention of the Governing Council of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, has been drawn to the purported sack of all principal officers of the Institution, and we are compelled to react so that there would not be a vacuum for lies to fill in the absence of genuine information.
“Council, presided over by its Chairman and Pro-Chancellor of LAUTECH, Professor Oladapo Afolabi, had at its 132nd meeting on Monday discussed and decided on an array of issues aimed at ensuring that the University progresses. It was during the meeting, that the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Adeniyi Gbadegesin sought the permission of the Governing authority to be allowed to proceed on two months leave, on medical ground.
“Other principal officers, the Registrar, and University Librarian, who are equally entitled and qualified for vacation also indicated that they would like to be allowed to proceed on their individual annual leave, and the requests were granted. We need to point out that the affected officers, being mindful of the repercussions of any gap, volunteered names of qualified officers who should sit-in for them, for the period that the vacation would last.
“Further to the approval of Council, the immediate Bursar, Mr. Adeniyi Olagunju, and the two other deputy bursars were also redeployed. It has therefore become important that we clarify that the officers were not sacked as being rumored because of any indictment.”