FUOYE Council Chairman and VC's Shameful Collusion: Silencing Victims and Whistleblowers

By Akin Akinsoluga 

In a brazen display of power abuse and institutional corruption, the Governing Council of Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), led by Chairman Ndoma Egba, has released a press statement that reads more like a victory lap for impunity than an attempt at justice. The Council's recent decisions regarding serious allegations against Vice-Chancellor Prof. Abayomi Fasina expose a calculated effort to silence whistleblowers and victims while maintaining the status quo.

The timing couldn't be more suspicious. While the Council pretends to offer an "olive branch" by lifting suspensions against SSANU FUOYE Branch Chairman Benjamin Faleye and Secretary Ayomikun Aluko, they simultaneously demand humiliating apologies from these union officials. What the Council conveniently fails to mention is that VC Fasina has already initiated legal proceedings against these same individuals since December 2024, suing them for defamation.

This creates an impossible situation: the whistleblowers are being asked to publicly apologize for statements that are simultaneously the subject of active litigation. Any such apology would effectively become an admission of guilt in the ongoing court case. This is not reconciliation—it's a carefully orchestrated trap.

The treatment of Engineer Folasade Adebayo is equally disturbing. A professional who dared to speak up about alleged harassment and intimidation now finds herself labeled as a blackmailer seeking positional advancement. The Council's statement makes the extraordinary claim that recording conversations (presumably as evidence of misconduct) constitutes cyberbullying rather than necessary documentation of abuse.

Most telling is the Council's fixation on whether sexual harassment occurred in the narrowest possible definition, while completely ignoring allegations of intimidation and victimization. This deliberate narrowing of focus serves only to protect the powerful.

Chairman Ndoma Egba's role in this travesty deserves particular scrutiny. As head of the Governing Council, he has allowed a fundamentally flawed process to proceed: suspensions before investigations, committees with prejudicial terms of reference, and selective consideration of evidence including the suspicious sidelining of a minority report.

How can Egba claim impartiality when he has presided over a process that:

Punishes whistleblowers who are already being sued by the VC

Forces apologies from victims of institutional bullying

Dismisses serious misconduct allegations with cursory "advice" to the accused

Uses university resources to pursue vindictive actions against staff who dared to speak truth to power

This case transcends the individuals involved. It strikes at the heart of accountability in our educational institutions. If whistleblowers can be suspended, humiliated, forced to apologize, and simultaneously sued by the very power figures they reported, who will dare speak up next time?

The message from FUOYE's leadership is crystal clear: protect the powerful at all costs, silence the vulnerable, and maintain the facade of propriety while perpetuating injustice.

The Federal Ministry of Education must intervene immediately. This is no longer just about FUOYE—it's about whether our educational institutions will be governed by justice or by fear. The Ministry should:

Suspend the implementation of the Council's vindictive decisions

Establish a truly independent investigation panel

Provide whistleblower protection to all involved parties

Review Chairman Ndoma Egba's fitness to continue leading the Council

Examine the propriety of allowing the VC to pursue defamation claims while simultaneously using institutional power against the same individuals

Until these steps are taken, the FUOYE Council's decisions stand as a monument to institutional failure and collusion against justice. Chairman Ndoma Egba and VC Fasina have transformed what should have been a fair investigation into a weapon against those who dared to challenge power.

Our university system deserves better leadership than this!!!