With immediate effect, the Vice Chancellor of Kwara State University has been removed from office.
A statement from the Kwara government directed Professor Abdulrasheed Na’Allah to step down for Professor Kenneth Adeyemi immediately on Monday afternoon.
Mr Adeyemi is going to serve as Vice Chancellor while Mr Naalah is going on terminal leave.
But for his unceremonious removal, Mr Naalah would have remained in office until July 27 when his tenure expires.
Abdullahi Alikinla, the Kwara State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, urged Mr Adeyemi to “take responsibility for the smooth running of the institution in accordance with the law that establishes it.”
Mr Alikinla said Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Kwara State University Law 2009 as amended, took the decisions concerning the two professors.
The law, he said, empowers the governor to appoint and remove the vice chancellor for good cause and after due consultation, as the visitor to the university.
The state government has given no reason to remove Mr Na’Allah, the institution’s pioneer head, suddenly.
The Nigerian Tribune, however, quotes the chairman of the governing council of the university, Saka Nuru, as dissociating the council from the action of the governor.
“This directive is not in line with the law of the University and will lead to distraction from the examination of the Rain Semester and the appointment of principal officers currently underway,” the newspaper quoted Professor Nuru as saying.
“This state government action is illegal and the KWASU Governing Council has no hand in the directive.”
At the beginning of the academic session 2009-2010, Mr Na’allah, 56, was appointed vice-chancellor.
Mr Adeyemi, 69, was Covenant University’s Professor of Operations Research and Business Development.
