By John Dike
The suspended Rector of Osun State Polytechnic Iree, Dr Tajudeen Odetayo has alleged that he was denied fair hearing by the panel saddled with the responsibility of investigating allegations against him as the Rector of the institution.
The investigation panel was set up by the state government to investigate the allegations levelled against Odetayo.
Findings revealed that as at the time of filing this report, the panel did not invite him to hear his own side of the story.
The panel is being headed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Muritala Jimoh,
Reports reaching our correspondent showed, that the Rector was not invited by the panel to defend the petition against him.
Chairman of the Governing Council of the institution, Hon. Diran Ayanbeku, had on August 8, 2023 inaugurated the panel and gave it two-week timeline to submit the report.
In a letter to the panel written by Odetayo on Thursday, August 17, requested that he should be invited for fair hearing.
The panel, it was gathered, did not respond to his request till the close of work on Friday.
By default, the panel was expected to have concluded its investigation by last Friday, August 18, being the last day of the two-week timeline.
However, another member of the panel confided in the medium that the panel later sent an invitation letter to Odetayo at noon on Saturday, August 19, but nobody was in the house to receive the letter.
When contacted, a representative of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, Osun State OSPOLY chapter, Dr Ezekiel Alabi, confirmed that neither Odetayo, nor the petitioner was invited by the panel.
Odetayo was suspended by the state government in a letter dated July 11, 2023 and signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Muritala Jimoh.
Mr Kehinde Alabi, an indigene of Ede, was thereafter appointed Acting Rector of the institution.
The state government said Odetayo’s suspension came on the heel of allegations of financial recklessness, fraud, corruption and abuse of office.
His suspension sparked protest in the polytechnic as lecturers and non academic staff suspended activities, describing the action of the state government as an aberration.
