Remove Babalakin, UNILAG ASUU tells Buhari
By Adesina Wahab
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, University of Lagos, UNILAG chapter has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to remove Dr Wale Babalakin, SAN, as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the university.
Speaking in a chat with Vanguard on Wednesday, the Chairman of ASUU, UNILAG chapter, Dr Dele Ashiru, said Babalakin was not running the Council in accordance with the rules and regulations required of him.
“We have done an objective assessment of Babalakin’s activities in the Council and as a union, we are of the opinion that he is not working for the interest of the university. As the. Chairman of the Governing Council, he ought to work for the promotion of the interest of the university, but he is not doing so.
“We are also not comfortable with this style. We are in a democracy and things should be done in democratic manners, but he appears to enjoy doing things in an autocratic way. We have declared him persona non grata in the university and we call on the President to remove him from the Council,” he said.
Asked if Babalakin would not be allowed to attend the convocation of the university whenever it holds, Ashiru said it was not compulsory for Babalakin to be there.
When also asked how the Governing Council would meet on campus if the chairman is not welcomed, the ASUU boss said that was why his union is asking for his removal.
Earlier on Wednesday, ASUU had held a congress where members protested the role played by Babalakin in the suspension of the 51st convocation of the institution.
Recall that on March 2, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, held a press briefing where he rolled out programmes listed for the convocation ceremony and even launched the university anthem.
However, on the same day, Babalakin sent a letter to the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, alleging that the convocation ceremony was not approved by the Council, saying that was against the university rules.
Based on the letter, Adamu directed the National Universities Commission, NUC, to advise the VC to put on hold the ceremony.
While the VC and the management have not officially reacted to the development, ASUU, through Ashiru, issued a statement decrying Babalakin’s action.
As a way of proving his case, Babalakin also got a statement released in Abuja on Tuesday saying only some aspects of the ceremony such as expenses and dates were brought to the attention of the Council during its meeting in January and that the list of those to honour during the ceremony among others were not discussed.
However, work is still going on in some of the projects listed for inauguration during the ceremony.
Our correspondent saw people working on two of such close to the Faculty of Social Sciences. It is not yet clear when the ceremony will eventually hold.