KWASU crisis: Gov Ahmed desperate to conceal financial dealing, says APC stalwart. By Ahmed ‘Lateef
A Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State, Mr Oluwafemi Yusuf, has accused the outgoing Governor of the state, Alhaji Abdulfatah Ahmed, of a desperate move to conceal fact about the financial dealings in the operations of Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete.
This is coming on the heels of the directive of Governor Ahmed to the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Abdulrasheeed Na’Allah, to proceed on terminal leave and appointed Professor Kenneth Adeyemi, in his stead in acting capacity.
Speaking in an interview with Journalists in Ilorin, the APC chieftain alleged that the refusal of the embattled Professor Na’Allah to coerce him into signing some financial documents,which he had no knowledge of prompted the state govt to move against him.
He stated that findings showed that d state govt had stopped subventing the Uni since 2013 despite deduction of N150m monthly frm the allocations of local govt areas in the state meant for the day to day running of the institution.
The APC stalwart, who hails from Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state, alleged that Governor Ahmed deliberately appointed his crony, Professor Kenneth Adeyemi as acting Vice-Chancellor of KWASU in order to cover up certain underhand dealings.
He said it was surprising that the state government could hastily appoint acting vice-chancellor for the state university when the tenure of the embattled VC would lapse July 22, 2019 while that of Kwara State Polytechnic Rector would expire June 22 this year.
Yusuf maintained that the action of the Gov smacks of desperation to nail Professor Na’Allah, saying that the state university has Deputy Vice Chancellors, who could take over in acting capacity if the state govt was hell bent in removing the embattled vice-chancellor from office.
“From the onset, one would know the move that Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed wants to make; it is predictable. Because the information that got to us was that he was trying to coerce the man (the Vice-Chancellor) into signing certain money that he collected during his administration.
“We got an information that monthly they used to remove N150million on local government allocation for KWASU and it has not been remitted to them. You now want this man to sign some papers that he has been collecting that money all this while.
“From the investigation conducted, we discovered that KWASU has not collected a dime as subvention from Kwara State government since 2013. The last time they got something from Kwara State government was in 2013. So, you would see the desperation in the move of Governor Ahmed.
“All this action that he has taken towards d end of his admin is laughable, but it is understandable because d EFCC mosquito has been biting around d admin even before d new admini comes in place. That informed their desperation, making him to be running from pillar to post.
“What is here is that there is a particular amount of money that they need to remit because of d EFCC. So, they are so desperate in getting that money from KWASU. This is because KWASU used to advance d loan of over N1b from Fidelity Bank for payment of salaries and other things.
“One thing that prompted our curiosity is that authoritatively the person they are appointing as acting VC is a contract staff of the University, not permanent staff. And apart from this, we have Deputy Vice Chancellors in the University, who can equally act in this capacity.
“Why the desperation? Why do you want to force the man out? Why do you want to bring somebody that is your own? Honestly, you would see that the man they appointed now is the Chairman of Harmony Holdings, which is the conduit pipe for siphoning Kwara money.
That is another thing that confirmed our fear that it is an act of concealing fact.
“This same man that we are talking about has had a longtime relationship with Governor Ahmed and Professor (Muritala) Awodun.
It was Awodun initially that they want to bring but when we said that he is not a Professor from the same University, he got a professor from a private university without even being in a classroom for so long, that was why they dropped him and brought in one of them”, Yusuf said.
