7th May, 2015
Damilare Okunola
Rector of the Lagos State Polytechnic, LASPOTECH, Dr. Abdulazeez Abioye Lawal, alongside Otunba Fatai Olukoga, Special Adviser on Education to Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, are in trouble following some allegations levelled against them by a section of the institution’s stakeholders.
Dr. Lawal is being accused of seeking another 5-year term in office as the Rector of the state-owned institution, hence his alleged connivance with Otunba Olukoga to ensure he achieves his aim.
According to some petitions made available to P.M.NEWS Campus Square, Olukoga is mentioned as one of those seeking to return the present Rector for another term.
Olukoga, the petition further alleged, is seeking to become the Chairman, Governing Council of the institution, hence his involvement in the decision-making.
The Rector is also alleged to be up in arms against those who offended him when he was the Chief Imam of the Polytechnic before assuming his present post.
Adelaja Waheed Aderibigbe of the Council Affairs Unit, Registry Department of LASPOTECH, in one of his petitions to Governor Fashola, stated that “the Rector sets up panels and determines what the findings and recommendations of the panel must be.
“If the panel exonerates, he will overrule and lord his decision over the affected staff. This is a typical case of the academic staff members who were demoted in the Department of Computer Science: Saheed Ololade Adelanwa PFAS/600, Jerry Abayomi Sarumi PFAS/669 and Ibitoye Akinfolajinmi Akinrinlola PFAS/606.”
It was also alleged in the petition that while these young lecturers were facing this harrowing experience, a female staff in the Department of Hospitality Management Technology was allowed to work and walk freely after being tried and convicted for a case of forged certificate.
“This is just one out of many such double standards in the polytechnic,” he said.
A group under the aegis of Concerned Ikorodu Indigenes, also alleged that Otunba Olukoga has been working as the sole administrator of LASPOTECH for the past couple of years.
According to the petition, which was also made available to our correspondents, the indigenes want the governor of the state to investigate the SAE and Engineer Olawunmi Gasper on the role they played individually and collectively.
Another group of Concerned ‘Lagosians’ in LASPOTECH, has decried the Rector’s desire to get another 5-year term.
While sarcastically explaining his giant strides, in the institution, the group said: “He has, to a large extent, succeeded in changing attitudes of some members of the staff with poor attitude to work and in making them more disciplined.
“This is largely, a result of coercion and not of his Charisma. He would forever be remembered as the most dictatorial Rector by most of the staff.”
In his reaction to the allegations, Otunba Olukoga, insisted that those who wrote the petitions were either failures or people who did not quite know what they were saying.
In a chat with our correspondent on Wednesday, he noted that there was no way he would have done all those things he was alleged to have done because there is the place of due process in the said acts.
According to him, “my friend, do not mind those people who have come up with a lot of allegations. They really do not know what they are saying.
“I have a little while to spend in this office and I am not just ready for all of those things the people are saying. Look, they are people who have failed and are looking for how to cover up.
“You know, when a person fails, he always tries to give reasons for his failure. That the lecturer failed him or he was shortchanged by someone. That is exactly what the people are up to now.
“They also said that we are collecting money, does that make any sense at all? The LASPOTECH PRO has already debunked all these claims. They are baseless and unfounded.”
On the issue of him conniving with the present rector of the institution to get a stooge as the new Rector, the SAE insisted that, “people were there from Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, YABATECH and another institution, how would that have been possible?
“There is due process in all of these things, how would I have single-handedly gone over all of those things on my own? They are baseless issues here. They need to be sure of what they are alleging.”
Our correspondent also spoke with Lanre Kuye, the Public Relations Officer, PRO of the institution, who was said to have debunked the claims levelled against the Rector and his ‘co-travelers’.
“I am in a congress,” he said. “Please, call me back or send me a text message later.”
As at the time of filing this report had not reacted to the allegations against his boss.