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The Osun State
governor, Rauf Aregbesola, on Wednesday, accused his Oyo State
counterpart, Adebayo Alao-Akala, of lying when he said that Ladoke
Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, was now solely
owned by Oyo State. Mr. Aregbesola was at the International Institute
of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on Wednesday to seek assistance on his
agricultural programme for his state. During his re-election campaign
at Ogbomoso on Monday, Mr. Alao-Akala had told the crowd that the state
had taken full ownership of the university, whose joint ownership with
Osun has remained a matter of controversy. Mr. Alao-Akala announced his
intention to acquire the institution solely for Oyo State and had
appointed a vice chancellor.

Undermining the process

The battle for the
control of the 20-year-old institution started during the
administration of the former Osun State governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola,
who had a public disagreement over the university with Mr. Alao-Akala.
Both men were members of the People’s Democratic Party. Efforts to
resolve the crisis by leaders of the party in the South West were
unsuccessful, and it is going to be more difficult since Osun State is
now under the control of the Action Congress of Nigeria. Despite the
change of government in Osun, Mr. Alao-Akala is still pursuing his
mission with vigour and to underscore his seriousness, he has been
going around cities of the state in recent times promising the
establishment of campuses of the university across the state to get
indigenes to support his re-election bid. But, Mr. Aregbesola yesterday
blamed the press for giving Mr. Alao-Akala undue recognition, adding
that Oyo state would be rescued from him.

“At best, the man
should be a security officer, but because of law, he finds himself in a
governorship position and he is undermining the very process that
brought him into power,” Mr Aregbesola said.

“How do you explain that somebody would whimsically and unilaterally
claim an institution jointly owned by two states when the law that
established it has not been abrogated?”