Suspended ASUU Chairman Indicts V.C 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.

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.”

Source:- Saharareporters