How I Forced Governor Ibikunle Amosun To Return Subvention to TASUED
By Aremo Tunde Oladunjoye
I think it was in mid-July 2014 that I got a call from my friend, Rt. Honourable Tunji Egbetokun, that the then Governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, wanted to constitute the Governing Council of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED). Ijagun.
Tunji is my very good friend. He gave me the nickname “AWIKONKO loju Oloro (literally meaning the one who speaks the truth bluntly even in the presence of who is concerned). On my part, I named the former Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly “gbogbo ara kiki oselu (every part of his body is politics).
I immediately I heard I was pencilled down for the assignment, I turned down the offer saying I did not want it. As at then, my company was engaged in the production of a weekly television documentary in collaboration with NTA International on the achievements of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State.
Gbogbo Ara, begged me to accept the appointment, saying rejecting it would be disrespectful to Senator Amosun. So, I concurred. He said the announcement would be made any moment and I replied “No problem”, just for the sake of friendship.
In the evening, I listened to Channels Television’s 10.00 pm prime news:
“The Ogun State Government, on Wednesday, announced the constitution of the Governing Council for the State-owned Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijagun, Ijebu-Ode.
“The Council has as its Chairman, a former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Olufemi Bamiro, while other members include the current Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Professor (Mrs.) Oluyemisi Obilade, Mr Afolabi Sorinmade, Professor Ayo Alabi, Professor Seun Omotayo and Dr. (Mrs.) Mulikat Salaam, a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr Taiwo Adeoluwa, read.
“Others are Honourable Kunle Elegbede, Comrade Tunde Oladunjoye, High Chief George Ibirinde and Mr Derin Adebiyi.”
We were later inaugurated. The Council members did not bargain for what we met on the ground! Enough subvention was not coming from the Ogun State Government. The subventions could not even pay staff salaries.
Before the appointment of Prof. Yemisi Obilade as the Vice Chancellor, there was Professor Segun Awonusi, an indigene of Ijebu from Ogun Waterside; a Professor from the University of Lagos, who was appointed by Otunba Gbenga Daniel as Commissioner for Education Science and Technology before his eventual appointment as VC TASUED.
The Awonusi administration had obtained a loan of N500 million from one of the commercial banks. There was nothing on ground to show the loan was spent on infrastructure but rather part of it was spent on staff salaries.
So, Aunty Yemisi, as Professor Obilade was called, was saddled with payment of the loan taken by the school before her appointment in addition to staff salaries and other recurrents. There was nothing she did not tried her hands on, even after the N500 million naira loan was refinanced – production of packaged water, production of blocks for building construction so that the TETFUND contractors would not be going outside the school to buy blocks. I remember I travelled to Ado Ekiti for feasibility study on the block industry and the block-making machines, which were later procured by the school. I did not collect a dime from the school for the trip, my fuel and for the effort.
We were sacrificing. The Pro-Chancellor, Professor Femi Bamiro, former Vice Chancellor of University of Ibadan, was commuting from Ibadan to Ijagun regularly. He had no official car and did not ask for one. The VC was using the second hand car she met on ground. No principal officer of the university had an official car. I got involved in many committees of the Governing Council. So, on a particular day, I came to the campus for three committee meetings and we were to be paid N40k per meeting. I refused to collect money for the the two other committees. I told the University Bursar that my conscience would not allow me.
Aunty Yemisi was so impressed that she wrote and signed an official letter to me to appreciate me.
Back to subvention, the state government was paying N121 million naira monthly and it was not enough. Suddenly, the money was reduced to N61 million naira. The situation became worse especially for the VC. Before you knew it, the subvention turned to “zero allocation”, no money was coming at all!
It was terrible! There were tensions from the academic and non-academic staff of the institution. My Comrades, especially in the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), led by Dr. Dapo Odukoya, were coming to me whenever I was on the campus, calling me on phone; asking for my intervention as a comrade. I was sending messages on my phone to Governor Amosun but was getting no response.
However, at a particular Governing Council meeting, while trying to explain her predicament as per the school’s finances, Aunty Yemisi burst into tears! A VC crying at Council meeting when it was not that she was on trial?! I felt I have had enough! I took my bag and told people close to my seat in my usual signal of departure “mo fe lo to ni Itele (I want to go and urinate at Itele, my country home, which was about 10 minutes away! Once members heard that, they will laugh knowing that I was not coming back.
It was August 2017. Getting downstairs and into my vehicle, I immediately sent a text message to Governor Amosun to give him one month’s notice of my resignation from the Council. I told him I will leave by September ending because I cannot sit at a Council meeting where the VC will be crying owing to lack of funds to run the school. God bless and reward Aunty Yemisi for all she did at TASUED though she is not even from Ogun State.
The day after sending the message, I knew I had done something (mo ti ṣe n kan) I went to the palace of Awujale in the afternoon to report myself. I knew if I had told Baba Awujale about my plan he would not have approved my resignation.
So, Baba listened calmly as I narrated what happened. When I finished, Baba asked if I was done and I said yes. Baba replied that since I already sent the text message of my resignation to the Governor before coming to tell him, it was as good as good as hearing it on radio or television or reading it in the newspapers. Therefore, he said he had no response. I left the Aafin quietly still convinced I did the right thing.
By September, a month before my announced resignation, the state government started paying subvention of N16 million as against the N61 million it was paying before.
The governor never responded to me about my text message and I never raised it with him.
What I later learnt from his close aides, was that when the Governor got my text message “Government House daru (scattered)”. It was concluded that once Oladunjoye resigns, he will leave the government and that will be serious trouble for the administration.
The rest is now history.
** Aremo Oladunjiye is the First Onigegewura Akile Ijebu