UNIBEN VC’s ALLEGED POISONING: ‘Lecturers punished for ‘crimes against humanity’ are fighting back’ - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/uniben-vcs-alleged-poisoning-lecturers-punished-for-crimes-against-humanity-are-fighting-back/#sthash.wD6mAopK.dpuf

UNIBEN VC’s ALLEGED POISONING: ‘Lecturers punished for ‘crimes against humanity’ are fighting back’ - See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/09/uniben-vcs-alleged-poisoning-lecturers-punished-for-crimes-against-humanity-are-fighting-back/#sthash.wD6mAopK.dpuf

UNIBEN VC’s ALLEGED POISONING: ‘Lecturers punished for ‘crimes against humanity’ are fighting back

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Affected staff ruined the lives of 142 students…
University of Benin (UNIBEN) Governing Council recently sacked 44 staff of the institution allegedly involved in allegations that bordered on gross misconduct. But since the decision was taken, the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Osayuki Oshodin, says he has not had peace. Recuperating from alleged food poisoning, he raised the alarm that some of those sacked by the university Council were after his life. In this interview, Oshodin alleges that some of the sacked staff were involved in sexual harassment, extortion and fake admissions which resulted in
the rustication of 142 students. He also speaks on the current ASUU strike. Excerpts:

44 staff of the University of Benin including senior lecturers were sacked recently, triggering petitions accusing you of being behind their ordeal. What is your take on that?

I am not behind their sack. Some of them collected money from students and the students have since been dismissed and they named them. The procedure for sacking people, the Vice Chancellor does not have a hand in it. First of all, the Intelligence Unit of the university sometimes dictates some of these things or, when they are reported to by students, they are now sent to the Disciplinary Committee. The Vice Chancellor is not a member of the Disciplinary Committee. The Committee will meet and make recommendation to Council. The Council take the ultimate decision and nobody can influence the Council.

Council is made up of over fifteen members, so how can one person influence them? We have four sound lawyers in the Council, one of them is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). A former senator is the Chairman of the Council and other respectable Nigerians. So, I don’t know what they are talking about. I can show you the rules and regulations, they are all spelt out there. You can recommend somebody to the Council and say the person should be freed due to one reason or the other, but the Council can say no , the person must be punished.

So it has nothing to do with the VC. It is sad that these people talking and calling the name of the VC do not even talk about the crime they committed. What most of them did can be described as crime against humanity. Many of them collected money from students; engaged in sexual harassment, extortion, fake admission. People who did not take JAMB, who did not pass post-UME, who did not have tSSSCE were cleared by these people. So what has their crimes got to do with the VC? It was purely a Council decision and they were dismissed after investigations.
Oshodin Osayuki

Ungodly act
A situation where you sexually harass a student and you are now disciplined, you look for who to blame and say you are being victimized. How can you collect N50,000 from a student and you say you are doing the right thing? Some of them were even caught red handed. There was a case whereby security agents were pursuing the person inside the campus. Is it not ridiculous? A big man running round the campus after he collected the money but he did not know security men were watching him. It is wicked to collect money from a poor student who can hardly feed. Parents are even suffering to get school fees and you are collecting N50,000 from them. What shocked me most is that even female lecturers were involved.

I did not know that female lecturers can be involved in extorting money from students. I thought that women are mothers and they are motherly, that was the shocker I got. It is a shame. And I heard that some of them had taught in other universities before and they were thrown out. And this was why the Council insisted that their names must be published in newspapers so that they will not go to another university and continue to perpetrate their evil. Majority of them had been in the business for twenty years. As a result, some people have gone to the internet to publish more names that we should look as they are also extorting students. Yet they are abusing the management of the university for the action but they forgot that 142 students that were to graduate could not graduate because these corrupt staff admitted them without basic requirements.

You know that at the point of entry, they are screened, at the point of departure, they are also screened; it was at the point of departure ‘that we discovered these 142. Some have spent five years, six years, four years but unfortunately, those years were wasted. So those ones were punished and you that admitted them that was supposed to advise them rightly, you expect to stay, no way. It will be ungodly to allow only the students and parents to suffer it. Those who perpetrated the act deserve punishment and that was the decision of Council. They ruined the life of those students because they have to go and start afresh.
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