RUSTICATED UNILAG STUDENTS WERE EXPELLED FOR BREACHING REGULATIONS NOT PROTEST- UNILAG SAYS

Olorunfemi Adeyeye and other University of Lagos students who were recently rusticated by the institution were not punished for their participation in a public protest, the institution explained on Saturday. 

In a statement signed by T. O. Adebule, Deputy Registrar (Information), the institution said while it does not wish to trade issues with a rusticated student, Mr. Adeyeye was specifically found to have breached its Social Misconducts and Penalties Regulations of University of Lagos as clearly stated in the 2015-2016 Students Information Handbook.

It said the institution was aware that of Mr. Adeyeye’s posts on Facebook and other social media, one of which was titled:  “The Senate of the University of Lagos, a conglomeration of Academic Ignorami.”  It noted in them; he made unsubstantiated and insulting statements about the person of the Vice-Chancellor and the entire Academic staff of the University of Lagos who constitute the University’s Senate.

“It is worrisome that the public is being made to believe that a student who abused and insulted all lecturers, who wrote that lecturers resisted the renaming of the University because it gives them leverage to have sex with female students should be promoted as a RADICAL and a REVOLUTIONIST,” the statement continued.  “A student who avers that the First Class Honours degree in Chemical Engineering obtained by the Vice-Chancellor in 1974 from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) is a waste.”

Affirming that the University of Lagos is committed to awarding its certificates not only for learning but for the character as well, the statement pointed out that over 7,000 Degree and Diploma certificates duly signed by the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar of the University are awarded every year. 

“It is, therefore, surprising, that someone expecting to receive one of such certificates would cast aspersions on the entire learning processes and academic integrity of the University,” it said.

With reference to Mr. Adeyeye’s arrest by the police last Wednesday, the University noted that despite the rules/regulations governing the conduct of rusticated students, Mr. Adeyeye organized a group of boys to cause commotion and chaos at the gate.  It explained that the arrest, along with other non-students of the University (two of whom are serving youth corpers), was unconnected with any protest. 

“It was a consequence of his desperate attempt to attract cheap publicity [and] unearned public sympathy and continuously bring the name of the University into disrepute. “It should be reiterated that the earlier misdemeanor of Mr. Olorunfemi Adeyeye attracted EXPULSION,” the institution reiterated.  “The University Senate in tempering justice with mercy handed him a 4-Semester rustication.  His recent conduct will do him no good.”

Expressing its appreciation to those media houses that have objectively and professionally disseminated issues concerning the institution, the University reiterated its commitment to the production of “total graduates who exhibit excellence in character and learning.”