The last has not been heard about the crisis of allegation of financial misappropriation rocking the oldest higher institution of learning in the country, the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), Lagos. Like the proverbial bird that perched on a rope, it is neither comfortable for the bird, nor for the rope. This is exactly the summary of the protracted drama currently being played out at the institution, which has pitched some management members of the college against the Rector, Dr. Margaret kudirat-Ladipo and the Governing Council Chairman, Chief Ebenezer Babatope. The ‘war of attrition’ is between the ‘Yaba Eight,’ a group of some embattled members of staff of the college and the management.
Now, the Bursar and Chief Financial Officer of the college, Mr. Olu Ibirogba, is calling on the government and good-spirited Nigerians to save him from the alleged highhandedness of the management of the college. The crisis took another dimension on July 1, when the Industrial Arbitration Court sitting in Lagos, had in its judgment ruled that the embattled bursar be reinstated by the management of the college, with his entitlements since 2013 paid. But, while the judgment was still being celebrated at the court premises, the management of the college announced Ibirogba’s sack, in defiance to the judgment of the court.
Other workers sacked alongside Ibirogba include two Assistant Chief Accountants of the college, Messrs Adedeji Adesina and B. Ayinde, as well as Mrs. M. Ibitomi Principal Accountant); Mr. Olusola Dada (Principal Accountant) and Mrs. Teniola Akinwumi (Senior Accountant), among others. Tracing his predicament in the hand of the management of the institution, Ibirogba at an interactive session with some journalists last week, described his sack against the judgment of the Industrial Arbitration Court as an infringement on his fundamental rights and an arbitrary attempt to silence him. Ibirogba, who alleged conspiracy between the management and the council over his sack, however, wondered why they refused to implement the court judgment, saying instead of obeying the order to reinstate him, the management acting on the directive of the council sacked him. Going by the allegation, New Telegraph gathered that the parties had resorted to legal solutions, as well as engaging the police and other forms of investigators and adjudicators to intervene.
The bursar, who linked his suspension to the alleged financial recklessness leveled against the rector, had following the failure of the appropriate authorities to act on his earlier petitions, on behalf of the “YABATECH Eight” addressed a fresh one to President Muhammadu Buhari and his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo According to Ibirogba, whose petition, dated June 10, 2015, and entitled; “Large Scale Stealing and Victimisation by YABATECH Authorities: Appeal for Intervention so that We are not Silenced,” was written by his lawyer and Principal Partner of Frank Eke and Company, Mr. Frank Eke, alleging that since 2009, when the rector resumed office, the college has lost no less than N2 billion to corrupt practices. Ibirogba, who said he stands by his petition and could substantiate them as the financial officer of the polytechnic, insisted that the Federal Government should conduct full investigation into the matter. He said the management was trying hard to sweep it under the carpet and tagged him a criminal.
“The management is using its money, political power and police to suppress the allegations, as well as calling me criminal,” he argued. The petition reads in part; “The Governing Council approved N5 million monthly security votes to the Rector, Dr. Kudirat Ladipo, which is paid to her personal account each month directly. This is besides the institution’s organic security staff (about 150 personnel), six outsourced security companies, as well as monthly payment of motivational allowances to the Sabo Police Station and DSS staff at Sabo. “This N5 million monthly security vote translates to N60 million per annum. Payment of security votes to head of government parastatal is very strange and an indicator of abuse of office and executive fraud. We have submitted this to EFCC and it has been verified. The rector has collected more than 25 million naira in the last five years for holidays and foreign trips including Estacode for about $30,000 dollars and she has never embarked on any trip and also not returned the money.
This is another clear duplication, as all employees in the federal polytechnics, including YABATECH, are paid He also accused the rector of divided loyalty, noting that she has a company, Spicy Nig. Limited, which she uses to execute several jobs in the institution; and that she is also engaged in contract splitting as well as an arbitrary employment of workers. Meanwhile, in 2014 when a new Governing Council was inaugurated for the college, Ibirogba claimed he approached the Chairman, Chief Babatope, who, he said attempted to broker peace between him and the rector. He further narrated: “But right from the first meeting I suspected foul play when Chief Babatope told the rector that she should not allow me to die as a pauper, and the rector responded that I was the one not interested in ‘eating’ from the system.
“But events that followed clearly indicated that Chief Babatope too had become an accomplice when we noticed that through an officer at the Public Relations Department of the college, who also has two personal companies, was sending monies to the account of the Council chair to the tune of about N10 million between 2014 and 2015.” Ibirogba, however, claimed that the Council had set up an investigative panel on the series of allegations leveled against the rector, but that both the composition of the panel and the manner with which it carried out its assignment called into question its mission. “The panel was chaired by Honourable Shehu Ibrahim Kagara. In a document they signed and gave to the court, they claimed it was statutory for them to suspend anyone that was being investigated but Madam Kudirat-Ladipo was not suspended. She even nominated some members of the committee that would investigate her. She approved illegal allowances for the sittings of the panel members.
When they were considering the report of the committee she was part of it. That is a travesty of investigation. “In terms of the allowances for the panel members, the chairman was legally entitled to N40,000 per week no matter how many days they sit per week while members were entitled to N30,000. But instead, they were paid sitting allowance per day for 27 days. So, the Chairman of the panel collected N1,080,000 instead of N160,000 and the members collected N920,000 each instead of N120,000 they were officially entitled to collect. “Besides that, they were housed in YABATECH Guest House and in spite of that they were paid Duty Tour Allowances of N20,000 per night every day for the duration the investigation lasted. We have vouchers and we have all the details. We have given all these to the EFCC. The most annoying thing is that they travelled to Abuja to write the report and they spent N2.1 million on the report alone.” But in his response to the allegations, Chief Babatope described them as absolute nonsense, while accusing Ibirogbo of trying to tarnish his image having rejected his bribe and chased him out of his house, even before he resumed as the Council chair.
The septuagenarian, who threatened to sue any platform that publishes any libelous material against him, said he never collected a dime from the school through any officer and had never tampered with the college’s management. Also in his reaction, the Public Relations Officer for the college, Dr. Charles Oni, described the allegations as the ranting of a sinking man, saying Ibirogba was only interested in destabilising the college. On the allegation of N5 million monthly security votes, he argued that it was no longer strange, in view of the peculiarity of the college’s environment, especially concerning the security threats constituted by those he described as the “Fadeyi Boys,” “Jibowu Boys” and “Abule Oja Boys,” which he said, informed the decision of the Council to approve the money. On the sack of the bursar the same day that court gave its verdict, Oni said the Council reserved the right to terminate any of its employee’s appointment as long as it feels the services are no longer needed.
He said: “The Council as the employer of every staff and management members of the college deserves the right. And whether it is a contempt of court, I cannot say because I am not a member of the Council. But you must know that he has been telling lies around about the college and the management which should be disregarded.” Meanwhile, the Federal Government has asked the security operatives to perform their responsibilities without fear or favour concerning the matter. Addressing the issue during a media interaction at the King’s College, Lagos at the weekend, the Permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. Mac- John Nwaobiala, noted that the government would not like to comment on the matter for now because it is already before the law court. He, however, urged the appropriate petitioned authorities to address the matter diligently and quickly. He said: “But for me, I won’t say this or that person is right or wrong. I believe those agencies should be able to handle it.”
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