By Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke has approved a two-year tenure extension for Professor Clement Adebooye, Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University, a move he says was necessary to strengthen the university’s governance and avoid a leadership vacuum. Adeleke made the announcement Monday while inaugurating the reconstituted Governing Council at the Osun State Government House in Osogbo, and by his own account, Adebooye hadn’t wanted the extension at first, only accepting it after the governor pressed the matter.
Alongside Adebooye’s extension, Adeleke retained Professor Adewale Oladipo as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, citing his experience and familiarity with the university system. The reconstituted council also brings in Alhaji Gbadegesin Lawal, Alhaji Lateef Olalekan Olayanju, Mr Akinola Franklin Omoniyi, Chief Funminiyi Awotide, Mr Orija Samuel Adebayo, Mrs Adewale Adetayo Bola and Mrs Olawale Oludayo Abolade. Addressing the new members, Adeleke urged them to lead with humility, integrity, courage, and a commitment to the public interest and was direct about how he expects the council to relate to management. “I charge you to work harmoniously with the Vice-Chancellor and management, stressing that the governing council and management should not operate as competing centres of authority,” he said, adding that both bodies must operate within the law and treat each other with mutual respect. He described UNIOSUN as one of the enduring investments of the people of Osun State, pointing to its role in the state’s and the country’s economic, social and intellectual development.
Oladipo thanked the governor for keeping him on, crediting the achievements of the previous council for the decision, and said the reconstituted body would build on that progress. Adebooye, for his part, thanked Adeleke, the State Executive Council and the new council members for attending, and pledged that university management would keep working with the council and other stakeholders to advance UNIOSUN’s ambition of ranking among Africa’s leading universities.
However, the announcement has run straight into a legal problem. According to the UNIOSUN Establishment Law of 2006, the office of Vice-Chancellor carries no provision for an extension at all, and none of the university’s three previous substantive VCs ever received one. The law’s First Schedule, Section 3 Subsection 6, sets the VC’s term at five years with no option for renewal, stating plainly that “the Vice-Chancellor shall hold office for a term of five years, and shall not be eligible for re-appointment.”
There are speculations that the House of Assembly may move quickly to amend the law to accommodate the governor’s decision, with one source citing the volume of public reaction as the reason the government is now considering that step. The university’s Public Relations Officer, Ademola Adesoji, confirmed the law’s existence when contacted, but said the governor described his own move differently. According to Adesoji, Adeleke indicated that after the VC initially rejected the extension, he “went behind the scenes to formalise it,” though Adesoji said he couldn’t confirm whether that formalisation amounts to an actual legislative amendment, deferring that question to the governor’s spokesperson. Both the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, and the Governor’s Spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, have not responded to calls or messages seeking comment.
The timing has added friction on campus. The UNIOSUN chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities had already scheduled a Congress for Tuesday before Monday’s announcement, with VC succession on the agenda. Sources within the university said several ASUU members have since voiced opposition to the extension, calling it an illegality.
