7th January, 2015
Eromosele Ebhomele
The Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, LASU, Professor John Obafunwa, has revealed that when he became the administrative head of the institution, it had over 1,000 cases of examination malpractices pending.
Obafunwa, who became the Vice Chancellor of LASU at the height of the crises that led to the removal of Lateef Hussein some years ago, said his nephew was one of those indicted among the 1,000 cases and that he refused to succumb to pressure from family members to save the student.
The VC, who was summoned to the state House of Assembly with some of his management staff for disobeying a resolution of the House, also said he faced serious threats to his life when he decided to look into the cases and get the students punished.
Shocked by the revelation, Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji asked for the total number of students in the institution and Professor Obafunwa gave the figure as 8,000.
The House had summoned Obafunwa to appear and tell the lawmakers why he disobeyed the resolution that Mr. Toviho Oluwaseyi Ezekiel, a student who was not to allowed graduate over issues of examination malpractices, be pardoned and set free “on compassionate grounds.”
The House took the resolution late last year after an ad-hoc committee it set up to look into the petition brough by Mr. Toviho, presented its report.
It was learnt that Ezekiel was alleged to have committed the offence in his year one in 2010. Part of the sanction was that he would re-write the particular course, which he wrote while in year two.
Since then, he continued to pay his fees, attend classes and write examinations. But while his mates were heading for the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Toviho said his name was not submitted to the NYSC even though his final result was released.
He said he was told that he could not partake in the NYSC programme because he was involved in examination malpractice.
The House had thought it unjustifiable that the student would be punished after the institution made him believe he had been pardoned.
The House then sent a resolution urging the institution to allow the student graduate and partake in the NYSC programme.
Last week, Toviho wrote again to the House to complain that the institution was yet to clear him despite the resolution of the House.
However, two of the lawmakers supported the institution’s action, saying cases of examination malpractices should be treated as such. But one of the lawmakers, Adebimpe Akinsola, told the House that the issue was no longer whether the student committed the offence, but on why the resolution of the House was disobeyed.
Akinsola’s argument was unanimously supported by her other colleagues.
Obafunwa told the lawmakers at the sitting that Toviho was just one of the cases.
When asked why he disobeyed the resolution of the House which was sent to him, Obafunwa said freeing Ezekiel would affect the institution’s policy since he was not the only one who was indicted.
“The matter was handled by the Exam Malpractice Committee of the Faculty of Management Sciences as well as others in the school and the University Governing Council is yet to meet since October, 2014, when we got the resolution.
“The next meeting of the council will hold on January 20th,” he also told the lawmakers.
Ikuforiji, while emphasising the importance of the resolution, said the resolution should be obeyed.
He also urged the Vice Chancellor to ensure that the issue is discussed at the meeting of the Governing Council and that Toviho’s case is handled satisfactorily.