By Esosa Omorogbe
The Ambrose Alli University Management has reacted to a video and news being circulated online with the narration: “Obaseki Closes AAU to Favour Asue's Family University”.
Answering questions from journalists in Benin City at the weekend, the Head of the University’s Corporate Communication and Protocol, Otunba Mike Aladenika, described the video and its narration as the handiwork of mischief makers as there is no iota of truth in the video and the news embellishing it.
Otunba Aladenika stated that In the early hours of Thursday the 6th of June 2024, some students went to lock up the entrance gate to the main campus of the University in the name of protest.
“There were mainly two groups of students involved in the protest. These were the students who failed to register for their courses in the already concluded 2022/2023 academic session, and students from the Faculty of Law who could not attain the minimum CGPA of 3.0 to proceed to the next level of study as prescribed by the Faculty of Law Academic Board of Studies and as earlier approved by the University Senate to ensure compliance with the quota provisions of the Council for Legal Education.”
Speaking further, Otunba Aladenika noted that “The students affected by these rules were less than three hundred (300) compared to the over twenty-seven thousand that make up the student population of the University. The staff and students that gathered around the entrance gates of the University were not part of the “placard-carrying” protesting students described by the newsmakers, but those who wanted to gain access to the University but were denied at that point. Note that when the AVC came to address the protesters the gates were finally opened.”
Declaring that sessional or semester registration is what qualifies anyone to retain/maintain his/her studentship in any tertiary institution anywhere in the world, Otunba Aladenika lamented that “it was appalling to read variously in some sections of the media that the students were protesting against the “obnoxious policies of the Adagbonyin-led University Administration, which among others compelled majority of them to be transfered to other departments via introduction of proceeding list they said was unknown to the law, rules and regulations of the University” as well as “the oppressive policies of the authorities”. Unfortunately, there was no attempt by any representative of these media houses to get some facts from the Management of Ambrose Alli University before unleashing the false narratives on the public space. Well, the intention of the sponsors have since become glaring: to make political capital.”
On the minimum CGPA of 3.0 approved by the University Senate for the students of the Faculty of Law, Otunba Aladenika informed that every decision of the Ambrose Alli University Senate is usually reached after a very robust debate and by consensus. All members of Senate, including some of those who have now been exposed as the internal sponsors of the media attack on the University, were part of these decisions. The decisions were never a one-man decision, but emanated from the rules and regulations of Senate as approved, a reason why they could not have been “obnoxious” nor “oppressive”, unless of course those sponsoring these propaganda terms in their capacity as agents of mischief and in their attempt to tarnish the image of the current University administration want to insult the collective intelligence of Senators, including theirs. I want to emphasise that the decisions are not Management’s or Adagbonyin’s “policies” but the decisions of Senate, and they were properly taken in the interest of our University and our students’ academic development and progress. No university kills its students; universities will only make policies for the advancement of knowledge and the sustenance of high academic standards for global competitiveness.”
Otunba Aladenika expressed sadness that some politicians bolstered by internal and external conspirators have cashed in on the brief protest by some of the students to make cheap political capital out of it. “The protest only lasted a few hours as the gates were opened before noon for normal academic and administrative activities after the AVC addressed the protesters. The emergency meeting that was called inside the main campus where the grievances of the students were presented to Senate by the AVC, was well attended. The contending issues were discussed and resolved by Senate and have been adequately publicised by the University. The gates of our University remain open and there is calm. I request anyone who is in doubt to visit the University and see that the reality here is different from what the reports are saying out there.”
Otunba Aladenika advised those who are beating drums of war to set the University on fire because of the coming elections and their personal ambitions to look elsewhere. “To continue to describe the University as “crisis-ridden”, de-market it and undermine the tireless efforts of the present management all in the name of politics are acts that will not take anyone very far in the long run.”
Otunba Aladenika affirmed that the University was not aware that the Governor of the state who is its Visitor has closed it down. “I believe the University should be the first to know if indeed there had been an announcement of its closure. I will, therefore, not want to dwell on the bit about AAU being closed down by Governor Obaseki so another University allegedly belonging to his party’s gubernatorial aspirant’s family will thrive, because it simply does not add up. But I just have this one plea for some of our Edo politicians, as well as their internal and external conspirators who do not want to let peace reign in Ambrose Alli University: Let AAU breathe!” Otunba Aladenika said.
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