The crisis bedeviling the process of appointment of a new vice chancellor for the University of Ibadan appears to be thickening on daily basis as the Joint Action Congress (JAC) of the Non – Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria University (SSANU) of the In­stitution, has responded to the threats of the Senate members of the Univer­sity, saying it lacks power to punish them.

The JAC NASU, SSANU disclosed that the Union members on Octo­ber 28, 2020, staged a peaceful protest against the process of the appoint­ment of the 13th Vice Chancellor of the Institution, to show their displea­sure over the six contestants that were to be screened by the council.

Saturday Independent report that the Union, through the SSANU Chairman, Comrade Akinwale Akin­remi maintained that they were not at any point in time as being assumed by the Senate of the University, taken the duty or responsibilities of appointing the Vice Chancellor of the University, but suggesting on the ways and man­ners of the process of its appointment.

Union members noted that they only recommended a comprehensive change in the process of the appoint­ment of the Vice Chancellor, stressing that the power of the Vice Chancel­lor in the selection and election of the Deputy Vice Chancellor should be re­duced, while composition of Council must be reviewed.

The Union maintained that it’s their legal rights as major stakehold­ers in the University of Ibadan to protest against wrong process of the appointment of the 13th Vice Chancel­lor of the institution, saying they did not hurt anyone as a result of their protest on Wednesday 28th, October 2020 held in the institution.

Comrade Akinremi, noted that the act that established the University has defined roles and line of responsibility of the Senate.

He said, every staff has a role to play in the choice of appointing the Vice Chancellor, by providing their suggestions on any of the applicants, so that it will not be a shame on all the stakeholders when eventually the Vice Chancellor appointed and later arrested by security operatives for some kind of unlawful and fraud­ulent acts.

“The responsibility of Senate is purely academic but not Union mat­ters. We want the federal government to pay academic staff because idleness is affecting them. Senate has no right to seat on our matters.”

Akinremi said what happened at the emergency meeting of the Senate on Wednesday was not a true repre­sentation.

“We have right to protest, we are part and parcel of the University. Senate has no power to punish us for expressing our view on the process of who becomes the Vice Chancellor of our Institution. We will not use our energy to address what they said. We can’t take them serious. It is not a re­flection of the University of Ibadan Senate.

“So it’s our duty as one of the stake­holders of the institution to see that we register our suggestions and opin­ions before the final appointment of the Vice Chancellor of the University gets to approval stage, and that is ex­actly what we have been doing. We are not in any battle with anyone.

“We have made our position known and we cannot be a judge in our own case. While we await final res­olution of the conundrum, we want to also make use of this platform to com­mend all the shortlisted candidates for their maturity and forbearance during the protests.

We also appreciate the Council Chairman for his fatherly presence to address our Congress, while we also appreciate Professor Ezekiel Ayoola and Peter Olapegba for having the confidence in our Congress that they are harmless and peaceful friends when duo walked in through the pro­testing.”

Recall that the Senate members of the University on November 4, 2020, at the conclusion of its meeting dis­associated self from the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria University (SSANU), and Non – Academic Staff Union (NASU), of the University over the last Wednesday protest.

The Senate members, after its meeting on Wednesday released a resolutions, calling on the disciplinary committee of the institution to make use of the appropriate measures to discipline both the Senior Staff Asso­ciation of Nigeria University (SSA­NU), and the Non – Academic Staff Union (NASU), action for disrupting the council meeting through what they described as an uncalled-for atti­tude during their Wednesday, October 28 protest.

However, the members of the SSA­NU and NASU had maintained that the Senate of the institution has no right to punish them for expressing their rights by peaceful protest on the appointment process of the Vice Chancellor of the Institution.

The Joint Action Congress of the SSANU and NASU, maintained that the Senate members that seated on Wednesday, claimed to be 188 out of 600, are nothing but a political stooges of the current Vice Chancellor, Prof Abel Olayinka, who have been prom­ised appointments when their pre­ferred candidate emerge as the Vice Chancellor of the institution.

Comrade Akinremi stressed that when has it become the responsibil­ity of the Senate to sit on matters of Union struggles in the University.