1st November, 2010
Dr. Abubakar Momoh, Head of Department, Political Science, Lagos State University, LASU says the institution is nothing but a glorified secondary school following the way the school was being run by the authorities.
Momoh spoke at the 2010 Public Lecture organised by the Lagos State Governor’s Press Corps, LAGOCO at the Lagos Television, Ikeja, Lagos, South West Nigeria at the weekend.
Delivering a lecture on the Role of the Press in Electioneering Campaign, Momoh accused the Vice Chancellor,VC Prof. Lateef Hussain of causing the dwindling fortune of the institution which had now made it become a glorified secondary school.
He stated that corruption had completely taken over LASU with the school authorities privy to the ongoing situation, adding that billions of naira were being looted and squandered in the institution while nothing was being done about it by those concerned.
Momoh also accused the administration of Governor Babatunde Fashola of maintaining a conspiracy of silence over the crisis crippling the institution by shielding some interested parties in the crisis.
According to him, nobody, even the press was asking any question about how billions were being looted in the institution and how the VC was running the school aground.
The human rights crusader further accused the VC of acting like a demi god, while the Fashola administration had been politicking with the white paper released to the governor by the panel set up to investigate fraud allegations against the VC.
Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele, who was at the lecture, countered Momoh’s claim, saying that the state government could not be accused of maintaining a conspiracy of silence on the crisis in LASU.
“It is rather early to accuse us of conspiracy of silence over the ongoing crisis in LASU. LASU has become a cynosure. As a government, you can’t expect us to remove the VC because the staff and students are asking us to do so.
“We cannot run a government on emotion.  We constituted a panel and the report of the panel is being examined. In less than 48 hours in which the House of Assembly asked us to remove the VC, nobody can accuse us of conspiracy of silence. The Assembly spoke out its opinion and it is advisory,†he stated.
The commissioner said the state government would take a decision on the matter later and that such decision would meet the required standard.
The National Universities Commission, NUC, had already withdrawn accreditation for 10 courses offered by the school and was still threatening to axe 26 other courses being run by LASU as at last week.
Guests at the lecture were former Governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba; Lagos State Commissioner for Rural Development, Prince Lanre Balogun; former Provost, Lagos State University College of Medicine, LASUCOM, Prof. John Obafunwa; Chairman, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government, Ayodele Adewale, among others.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga
