It was definitely not my intention to dwell on FUOYE today after my announcement of my temporary suspension of the attention I gave to the ill-treatment the erstwhile Registrar was subjected to by the new sheriff in the institution. I was actually going to dwell on the matter of injustice many of us witness day by day in this our country that is our country when I kept getting calls and messages upon messages on the FUOYE sheriff and his cohorts within and without the Governing Council. Because this newspaper welcomes plurality of opinions, I decided to air here now some of the views that found my phone as texts and as voice calls. But wait a minute: UNIBEN somehow is being accommodated as part of the subject under focus because some readers objected to what one of the readers said as a side reference to UNIBEN when he lambasted FUOYE’s new lord of the manor.
Clearly, UNIBEN’s new Vice-Chancellor has so far not behaved in the way and manner that the new horn-blower in FUOYE has been blowing his inglorious horn. As one of the readers pointedly said, Professor (Mrs.) Lilian Imuetinyan Salami, UNIBEN’s second female Vice Chancellor is on a mission to re-born UNIBEN as Unibest, that is, the best university in the land and in the south of the Sahara. So far she has been carrying herself as first among equals, and certainly not as a tyrannical tyrant or an indecorous chief executive or an inglorious lover of power. Because I didn’t have (and still don’t have in my writing moment) any contrary evidence, I could not and cannot but concur with those who wished me to record their views as I hereby record them – without qualms.
The day shall come when this column shall sing her song as it should be sung without the trumpet of flattery so long as she remains who and what she is and improves on who and what she is gorgeously and phenomenally. How exquisite it will be to do so exquisitely!
Now it’s time for further readers’ verbatim opinions on FUOYE: “Please Sir, follow this up and expose all the rotten protocol of the new VC. As academics, we can’t criticize the government, yet replicate the same evil in our small world;” “Sir I appreciate your honest and dispassionate commentary on this issue. Those who know you well know you are being real and genuinely concerned. But those who don’t know you will think you have hidden interests. Posterity will vindicate you. Kudos Sir:” “A very interesting intervention once again.
It’s good that through this intervention, the injustice with which the new VC has begun his reign are brought to the attention of the public. As you rightly observed, as long as there is injustice in this case, the VC has not won the final victory. Thank you for your public service;” “I warned you, Sir. You have a very bad fault: you think everyone is like you! Vampires are on the prowl everywhere. But just like you, I am confident that the new men of power in FUOYE will get an overdose of the pills they are serving Soremakun now;” “What a shame! How would all this affect the university? Who even spares a thought for the university? No fight for justice is meaningless, even if victory does not come immediately. A man has got to do what a man has got to do. If the former Registrar feels he has a genuine case, he should go to the courts.
He should fight lustily;” “Campus politics, the bane of our universities;” “I actually laughed while reading the articles, Sir, not because they were funny but as a commentator rightly observed, “Campus politics.” It is everywhere – I even posit that what those in private establishments do far outweigh what politicians do. The latter’s actions are just publicized in the news. The story sounds like what they will do in LASU, my alma mater – ebo sisun and/or coffins in front of the administrative block. The vested interests, under different guises will come after the head. Anyone who blocks their share of chop chop will have a hard time. It is everywhere. First Bank’s own for instance…. I like an aspect of the article that truth will always prevail but where there’s no justice, progress can never be made… positions are temporary…..;”
I wish to end the plurality of responses here for now. But I must let it be known that the various responses especially as they pertain to FUOYE of “vampires on the prowl” are by elites of Nigeria of different professional persuasions. My chats with them indicate that they are passionately interested in the matter. How the FUOYE sheriff and the Governing Council can wriggle out of the tight corner that they have trapped themselves in is a gorgeous story waiting to be gorgeously told and relayed and relayed time after time.
By the way, I have the text of the press release recently done by FUOYE’s VC and his cronies. I also have the Punch newspaper’s report on FUOYE’s Governing Council and its chairman. The erstwhile Registrar’s remark is also contained therein. I shall examine them dispassionately at a later time. Each side is digging in. At the end of the day only the one and only the side that plays by the rules of due process and of justice will triumph and triumph well. All lovers of due process and fellow walkers and wayfarers on the rough road and tough way of perfectly perfect justice will embrace the truly guiltless.
What all this indicates is that all the parties should be ready for fireworks from this supreme columnist who is in deep and abiding love with perfect justice. Columnists of similar frame of spirit and mind are also patiently waiting for that and what they are patiently for.
Afejuku can be reached via 08055213059.
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