UNIBEN VC returns from sick leave

CONTRARY to media reports that the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), Prof. Osayuki Oshodin, may have become incapacitated due to ill-health and therefore be replaced with a substantive acting VC to complete the remaining months of his tenure, Prof. Oshodin Monday was in the university environment to the jubilation of management members of staff and other residents in the university.

Dressed in a grey shirt and jacket on black trousers, Oshodin presided over the meeting of appointment and promotion board of the university where management members of staff were all seen singing songs of praises to God for his return after he was flown abroad for medical treatment in May.

And addressing a press conference yesterday, members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) and Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities (NASU) described the call for the VC’s removal as selfish driven by greed, saying it “smacks of mischief for anybody to claim that the tension created by the absence of the university boss has slowed down activities within the campus.”

Chairman of SSANU, Mr. John Alile who spoke in company of the Acting chairman of NASU, Mr. Joel Idonije and NASU Chairman, Mr. Sunday Momoh, said that even in the absence of Oshodin, the school had completed its first semester, had already resumed for second semester, students mobilised for NYSC, and the successful hosting of the 11th Edition of Nigerian Universities Staff Sports Association games, among others.

He said: “It is sad to note how the pursuit of selfish interest could drive some persons to the point of loosing sight of the uniqueness of the university system whose operations are largely guided by the rule of law. We advise those calling for the appointment of an acting VC to check the statutes for their own good. Anyway, we are delighted to make it known that Oshodin is hale and hearty; he resumed duty today.”

He said the appointment of two acting Deputy VCs was done with strict compliance with due process.

Also, a socio-cultural and political group, the Benin National Congress (BNC), has described as wicked the actions of some persons in the university, who it alleged, were the masterminds of such complaints of the VC’s ill-health to the ministry to pave way for their taking over the administration when the tenure of the current VC, has not ended.

The BNC in a petition to the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau and signed by the Secretary, Board of Trustees (BoT) of BNC, Chief Michael EdoborImasogie and Director of Publicity and Intelligence, Dr. David Ekomwenrenren, declared: “The man is sick, not by any natural development, but substantially by a deviously-infused anti-body on account of which he was flown abroad and has substantially recovered. Empathy demands that some members of staff who claimed that they love him should treat perceived absence misdemeanor with respect, passion and candour.

“To resort therefore to diabolic orchestra by engaging in the pull-him-down syndrome because of the selfish ambition of some members of staff who want to be the next VC of UNIBEN by all means is to say the least ungodly.”

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