The Acting Rector, Igbajo Polytechnic, Igbajo, Osun State, Dr Akinola Olaolu, is in the eye of the storm as it seems that the crisis in the institution will not end soon.
Aside the problem over his style of leadership in the polytechnic, Olaolu’s claim to a doctorate is being called into question as workers of the institution claimed that there was nothing to suggest that he had a PhD.
There had been a clash between students of the institution and policemen from the Osun State Police Command, leading to over 20 students being reportedly hospitalised.
Since the clash, which the workers said was an offshoot of the certificate scandal, the scrutiny under which the doctorate’s claim had come, had assumed a life of its own.
Olaolu had claimed that he obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy degree in Economics at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, but not a few people at the school had faulted the claim.
Olaolu, who took over the helms of affair at the school in 2016, allegedly said he was awarded the PhD in 2003 by the Postgraduate School, University of Ibadan.
A notification of the higher degree result, which he reportedly submitted to get the job, showed his matriculation number as SI. 39561 and was signed by one Mrs T.F. Oladiti for the Deputy Registrar/Secretary of the institution.
The notification read, “I have the pleasure of informing you that on the recommendation of the Faculty of the Social Sciences, Postgraduate Committee and the Board of the Postgraduate School, the Senate has approved the recommendation of the examiners that the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) of this university be conferred on you. The effective date of the award is November 26, 2003. On behalf of the vice-chancellor, I congratulate you on your success in the examination.”
PUNCH Metro gathered that the document was the only evidence that Olaolu presented, as he explained that he had not been issued a certificate by the University of Ibadan more than 13 years after he graduated.
Our correspondent obtained a copy of the notification, which was confirmed as Olaolu’s document by a former registrar of the polytechnic, Bisi Odebunmi.
It was PUNCH Metro that sent a copy to UI for verification and after about two weeks, the Director, Public Communications, University of Ibadan, Mr Olatunji Oladejo, disclaimed the result, saying there was no record of it at the varsity
He said, “The university has thoroughly investigated the matter and our findings are presented as follows: that the name, Mr. Olaolu Akinola Olugbenga, which you sent to me to work on, does not exist in the database of the university.
“The matriculation number, 39561, purportedly allocated to Mr Olaolu Akinola Olugbenga, could not be verified. The signature in the notification of result presented to the university for verification was misrepresented. The name, Olaolu Akinola Olugbenga, could not be found in the thesis bank of the Department of Economics, formerly under the Faculty of Social Sciences, now under the Faculty of Economics.
“Students of the university have registration files opened for them after being offered provisional admission. There is no record of his studentship with the university. In order words, he did not obtain his PhD from the university; there were a lot of discrepancies.”
It was later gathered that Olaolu was employed in Igbajo Polytechnic in December 2015 as a deputy rector to the former Rector, Tanimowo Oke.
His appointment letter, dated December 17, 2015, which was obtained by PUNCH Metroand signed by the Chairman, Governing Council, Prof. Olu Odeyemi, mandated Olaolu to present his original certificate.
However, Olaolu was reported to have resumed without presenting the certificate.
On August 23, 2016, more than eight months after he was issued the offer letter, the school management reportedly wrote him a reminder on the subject.
“Kindly present the originals and photocopies of your credentials as directed in your appointment letter of December 17, 2015, by the governing council. This process is necessary to update your records,” the letter, signed by the then registrar, Odebunmi, stated.
Odebunmi, who spoke to our correspondent, said Olaolu did not reply the letter till he left the system.
He said, “When he resumed, he presented just the notification of result. Later, I wrote a letter to him to present his certificates. He did not respond till I left the system.”
The school governing body was alleged to have rebuffed calls to investigate the issue until in 2017.
The school management was said to have set up a four man committee, headed by one Mr. E. O. Ojekunle, in September 2017.
Records obtained by our correspondent showed that the panel was asked to investigate the contention over Olaolu’s doctorate and alleged sexual harassment, among others.
The records showed that he was cleared of the sexual harassment allegation.
However, on the certificate, the committee said the rector claimed not to have any original certificates of both his first and second degrees.
The report said, “He said during his PhD programme, his financier ran into financial challenges which prevented him from being registered for his programme and was as a result not issued a certificate. He affirmed that Prof. Ademola Oyejide and Prof. Ademola Ariyo were his thesis supervisors.
“He added that when this issue came up, the Chairman, Board of Trustees, gave him a sum of N400,000 as loan to defray his financial liabilities and obtain the certificate. He was asked to produce evidence of the payments and he promised to furnish the committee later.
“He asserted that all documentations of his dissertation, including the soft copy, were no longer available. He stressed, however, that the publishers had promised to dismantle the available copy with a view to producing six new copies for him. He added that the vice-chancellor during his studentship had retired, but he had been contacted and promised to do something about the issue.
“Engr. Ojekunle said the committee had records of all graduates of the University of Ibadan from 2000 to 2008, including that of postgraduate schools. The documents were given to the acting rector to go through and locate his name therein for confirmation. The acting rector searched through and told the panel that his name was not there because he did not register at that time. He said his record had yet to be documented because he still owed the university, and that was why he had obtained the N400,000 loan to enable him to effect necessary payment.
“Mr. Igbaroola asked whether the acting rector had been conferred with a PhD degree. The acting rector said no. The committee advised the acting rector to get the records straightened as quickly as possible and affirmed that records obtained from the University of Ibadan did not show that he obtained a doctorate from the institution.
“When the acting rector was asked to present evidence of payment to the University of Ibadan for the processing of his certificates, he responded that he was not with the receipt at that moment but would forward same without delay.
“He was asked to present his credentials and the committee observed that original certificates of both first and second degrees of his academic qualifications were not available but he promised to present them shortly.
“It was highlighted that any certificate he would present should bear official stamp of the university.”
At the second meeting of the committee on October 30, 2017, Olaolu was reported to have come up with more excuses on why he could not produce his evidence of payment for processing of his PhD certificate, including the claim that his scripts had been moved to UI’s library’s archive.
When also asked to present his first and second certificates for sighting, he was said to have presented only notification of results.
“All evidence available to the committee showed that there is no record of the acting rector’s doctorate degree at the University of Ibadan. The acting rector has no original certificate of his first and second degrees,” the report of the committee read in part.
A source at the University of Ibadan said the institution received a letter of enquiry on the matter from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
She said the enquiries had been “formally” replied to, adding that the UI denied Olaolu’s certificate.
It was learnt that Prof. Oyejide, whom the rector claimed supervised his thesis, had retired from the school.
The second alleged supervisor, Prof. Ariyo, said checks of files of PhD students in the department did not show the rector’s name.
He said, “We have searched our records; we can’t find the matriculation number or the name. And I don’t know anybody by that name in the department. It cannot be correct that I co-supervised a thesis with Prof. Ademola Oyejide in 2003; the last time I was on the same committee with Prof. Oyejide was in 1998.”
Rector, IGPOLY respond
The former rector of Igbajo Polytechnic (Tanimowo) said he left the school about three years ago.
He said, “I am not aware of any case of certificate fraud. The issue of the certificate never came up.”
Tanimowo later sent our correspondent a text message, which read, “No negative story must be written about IGPOLY. I am still a stakeholder; the situation can be remedied.”
The Owa of Igbajoland and visitor to the school, Oba Adeniyi Fashade, said, “Actually, I don’t know anything about the certificate issue. The board of governors is handling it. The board chairman will tell you exactly what is happening. It is when they have issues that they cannot resolve that they come to me.”
Olaolu, however, said he had just obtained his PhD certificate from UI, adding that he was ready to present it to the polytechnic.
He said, “I have collected my PhD certificate from the UI and I have evidence that I attended UI and defended my thesis. You can go to the library to find out about my thesis: it’s on Real Options. I collected it late because I owed. I am waiting for whoever will publish it so that we can go to court. I finished in 2002, but my certificate reads 2003 because it was the following year that the UI convocation held.”
When told that the school had denied him, he said he was ready for a meet but adding that he would only allow “sighting” of the document.
“I wouldn’t know the section that you or they (UI) went to. It is only when I see the nature of their denial that I will know what to say. But I have documents to show and prove that I was admitted there, I registered there and I picked three degrees from there – an MBA, a B.Sc in Economics and a PhD,” he added.
Our correspondent gathered that the Igbajo Polytechnic conveyed a meeting of its governing council and board of trustees last Thursday and Friday, respectively.
The Chairman of the Governing Council (Odeyemi) told our correspondent that the council had received a photocopy of the rector’s certificate.
He said, “The rector did not give us the original certificate of his PhD, but we asked him to bring it, which he has done. We had meetings on Thursday and Friday and he presented a certificate from UI.
“But in another week or so, we will conduct an interview. We have advertised publicly and many people have applied.
“We have asked that everybody applying for permanent positions should come for interviews. It is at that point that we will confirm whatever document anybody is bringing. But as of Thursday, he gave a certificate from UI signed by a former vice-chancellor, Prof. Falashe, whom I know personally.
“He is still in acting capacity. He had wanted us to confirm the appointment, but we have not because we have not authenticated his credentials. Moreover, he does not need a PhD to be the rector.
“It is true we set up a committee which said it did not see his name (in UI’s records), but here is a man who two days ago gave us a duly signed certificate. The next thing is to go to UI and find out if the certificate is authentic or not.”
ICPC, NBTE react
The spokesperson for the ICPC, Rasheedat Okoduwa, said the agency had started investigation into the case.
“The ICPC received a petition on the matter and it is investigating it. I am not at liberty to give further information,” a text message she sent to our correspondent read.
The Head of Media, National Board for Technical Education, Jacob Abang, said the agency did not have the power to investigate the alleged academic fraud.
He said, “It is not our responsibility to go about ascertaining the qualifications that people have. We can only react if there is a petition against a worker of a polytechnic over his qualification.”
Meanwhile, a statement reportedly issued by one Chief Tunde Omikunle on behalf of the school said there was no rift between the rector and the polytechnic staff members.
“Our campus and Igbajo town and environs have remained calm…
“We like to assure the public, parents and students that both the governing council and the board of trustees are satisfied with the performance of the rector and his team,” the statement said.
Credit: Punchng.com
Prof. Richard Akindele
