UNILAG governing council removes Ogundipe as VC

Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), has been removed by the governing council of the institution.

Ogundipe’s removal was announced on Wednesday during a meeting of the varsity’s governing council at the National Universities Commission (NUC) headquarters in Abuja.

The meeting, which was presided over by Wale Babalakin, pro-chancellor and chairman of the council, had 11 out of the 12 council members in attendance, majority of whom voted for Ogundipe’s removal.

The vice-chancellor was removed amid allegations of financial impropriety and gross misconduct.

Babalakin and Ogundipe have been at loggerheads since March over the institution’s 51st convocation, which was cancelled just before it commenced.

Adamu Adamu, minister of education, had asked the institution to suspend the ceremony after the chancellor accused the management of not following due process in reaching its decision as regards the event.

But Ogundipe insisted that the university followed the pro-chancellor’s directives and did not contravene any law.

The institution’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) had also passed a vote of no confidence on Babalakin in March amid the conflict.

“Dr Wale Babalakin is now a persona non grata on our campus. We don’t want to see him again anywhere in the university. He is no longer needed,” it had said.