God Asked Me To Be Quiet During UNILAG Crisis – VC

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe has claimed that God asked him to be quiet during the Varsity’s crises.

Prof Ogundipe said this during the presentation of his autobiography titled, ‘Oluwatoyin Temitayo Ogundipe @ 60: Audacity of Resilience’, which was held on Tuesday.

In his words: “When I wanted to react, God said I should keep quiet. God referred me to the Book of Proverbs chapter 26 verse 4 in the bible. I wanted to fast, God said I should celebrate. I wanted to fight back, God said the battle was His. So, I thank God that He stood by me during the Tsunami. It is by the grace of God that we were not consumed by the crisis,”

UNILAG Crises in 2020

The University was in 2020 enmeshed in leadership and union crises.

The then Governing Council, led by Dr. Babalakin, had filed a petition alleging that there were some infractions in the award of contracts which include the on-going library project.

The Council also accused Ogundipe of wrong-doing, gross misconduct, financial recklessness and abuse of office among others.

It took the intervention of members of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Procurement who carried out an investigation into the contract award crises.

The supremacy battle between the University management and the Pro Chancellor, Babalakin, however lingered, leading to the postponement of the University’s 51st convocation scheduled to hold in March, 2020.

Amidst the crisis, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the constitution of a special visitation panel to look into the lingering crisis at the university following the happenings that lead to the removal of the Vice Chancellor, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe by the Governing Council while he prior to commencement of work by the panel asked both Professor Ogundipe and Babalakin to recuse themselves from official duties pending the outcome of the report of the special panel.

After review, Buhari approved the report of the Special Visitation Panel to the University, thereby reinstating the embattled Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe as the 12th Vice Chancellor of the university.

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