Suspended ASUU Chairman Indicts Vice Chancellor in N5.5b Scandal
Professor Monday Igbafen, suspended Chairman of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU) chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has indicted Ignatius Onimawo, Vice Chancellor of the university, in a N5.5billion Tertiary Education Trust Fund and NEEDS Assessment intervention funds scandal, Saharareporters.com reports.
Igbafen said this while addressing the press in Edo State, on the reason the institution suspended him.
The University's disciplinary panel had found Igbafen guilty of sexual misconduct. He was accused of threatening to have sex with students for marks.
However, he denied any wrongdoing, insisting he was being victimised for asking the VC to account for the N5.5billion the institution received from TETFUND and NEEDS.
Igbafen also stated that the VC promoted his wife from the position of a typist to Lecturer 1, without having required qualifications.
He said: “We challenged him to be open and transparent. You cannot move your wife from nowhere and make her a Lecturer I without a PhD and academic master’s degree. We have been on the matter and he has made attempts to compromise me as the chairman of the union, and I refused.
“That led to his desperation that I should never be chairman of ASUU for the second time.
“The university has collected more than N5.5billion for the past five years. From the TETFUND, he has received more than N3.4billion, while the money from NEEDS Assessment is more than N1.2billion.
“The union is demanding how he has utilised these funds. Is it a sin to ask for how he has utilised our funds?”
However, in response to the allegations, Edward Aihevba, spokesman for the university, said Igbafen was pronounced guilty of the accusation after a panel set up concluded the investigation in the case.
Aihevba noted that the previous administration did not carry out the recommendations of the report submitted by the panel.
Aihevba also explained that the wife of the VC possesses required credentials and qualifications before she was promoted.
He said: “Professor Igbafen should not be shouting. He is afraid that he is sinking. He should face the music. The victim and her mother testified before a panel, but the former administration did not look into the report.
“There are other things he did and at the appropriate time, he will be made to answer for them.
“The VC’s wife entered the university as a young woman. She got her degrees and was converted by a former administration and not her husband. She got her PhD and was made Lecturer I.”