FEDPOLEL Lecturer Writes Buhari Over Fraudulent Activities, Maladministration, Others By Management, Governing Council

By Daniel Dafe/Christian Egheneji
A lecturer in the Department of Business Administration and Management, Federal Polytechnic, Ile-Oluji (FEDPOLEL), Ondo State, Dr. Oloko Oladele, has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari over allegations of threat to his life, maladministration and fraudulent practices by the institution’s management.

Dr. Oloko, who is a lecturer in the institution but had his appointment terminated because he dragged the polytechnic to court and over series of petitions he wrote against the institution’s management, revealed that the polytechnic’s management under Professor Emmanuel Fashakin as Rector has continually violated the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019 that was signed into law by the polytechnic’s Visitor, Chairman, Federal Executive Council of Nigeria on the 18th of June 2019.

He added that Fashakin was appointed as the Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Ile-Oluji, Ondo State on 1st April, 2015 and ought to have vacated the office by March, 2020 in line with the Federal Polytechnic Act, 2019 but some top management staff of the Federal Ministry of Education extended his tenure for another four years, an indication that he will be spending eight years as rector in violation of the federal polytechnic act 2019 that was signed to law by the Visitor.

According to him, the discrepancies in his age shows two different official records of Mr. Fashakin that reflect two different years of birth.

He said: “Mr. Fashakin was born on the 5th March, 1956 according to the curriculum vitai made available by the institution’s registrar, Mr Adetula, when he was shortlisted for the rector position at the federal polytechnic Ile-Oluji, Ondo State.

Continuing, he said based, on the C.V submitted, Fashakin was 59 years as at 12th March;2015 and the federal polytechnic decree1993 was well spelt out that once the applicant for the position of rector is over 54 years, such candidate is not qualified to contest or apply in any federal polytechnic in Nigeria.

He continued: “The question is that Prof. Fashakin and other stakeholders in the affairs of the federal polytechnic in Nigeria should provide the act or decree that backs the reappointment of a 64-year-old man as a rector.

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“My personal findings, revealed that the governing council of the polytechnic initially disassociated and refused to reappoint Mr. Fashakin as the rector again due to some forged and falsified documents associated with his credentials with particular reference to violation of federal polytechnic decree 1993 and the act 2019 respectively in respect of entry age of 64 years, mismanagement of resources and misappropriation of over six billion naira that have been allocated to the polytechnic since inception of TETFUND.

“The National Board of Technical Education (NBTE) Executive Secretary also advised both the governing council and federal ministry of education on the implication and consequences of reappointment of Mr. Fashakin as the rector again due to some serious allegation on forged and falsified documents of his credentials, mismanagement and misappropriation of funds.

“Millions of naira received by the polytechnic from TETFUND meted for developmental purpose were channeled and fraudulently diverted by the rector and was shared to the mentions above stakeholder before is reappointment was fraudulently perfected.”

The petitioner also identified as violation of the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019, the appointment of the Registrar, Bursar and Polytechnic librarian, which was fraudulently advertised on the Internet on 6th December, 2019 by the management and governing council.

Dr. Oloko noted that due process was not followed since it was well stated in the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019 that all appointments of principal officers should be from the polytechnic section but the internet advertisement published by the Federal Polytechnic Ile-Oluji, Ondo State extended it to other tertiary institutions.

He further noted that no search team was formed or constituted in the process of selecting the three principal officers; just as the academic board in the rank of chief lecturer was not involved in the selecting of the three principal officers and the representatives of congregation in the rank of principal assistant registrar were not involved in the selection process of the three principal officers in March 2020.

He commented that in further violation of Federal Polytechnic Act which was enacted in 2019 and signed into law on 18th June 2019, by the commander in chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under the methods and procedures in selecting the principal officers, the newly appointed registrar was coming from Federal Universities of Technology (FUTA) instead of Polytechnic sector and have not spent up to five years as a deputy registrar stated in the 2019 Act.

He also noted that the newly appointed bursar had not spent a minimum of five years as a Deputy bursar as stipulated in the Act (2019) before she was appointed as the bursar of the polytechnic and the newly appointed polytechnic librarian was coming from a private university and have not spent up to five years as a deputy chief librarian against what was stated in the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019.

The academic submits that the position of the three principal officers ought to have been published six months before the expiration of their tenure in March 2020 in at least two national newspapers in Nigeria as also stated in the Federal Polytechnic Act 2019.

The petitioner also accused the rector of commissioning various degree sub- standard capital project without completion; retention of contractors not being paid but only paid his contractors who he is using to defraud the polytechnic.

On more allegations, Oloko said the rector collected millions of naira for official accommodation that was allocated to the polytechnic by the host community while Mr Fashakin continued collections millions of naira for official quarter that was given to him by the polytechnic’s host community as part of the social responsibility to the polytechnic.

Speaking further, he said that “another technique being used by Mr Fashakin to convert government financial resource to his private pocket according to the petitioner is unnecessary foreign trips without any significant impact and growth to the development of the polytechnic and that over twenty millions of naira have being refund back to the rector without the approval governing council.”

He therefore called on the federal government to instruct the EFCC or ICPC to investigate all the financial transactions of the polytechnic since April 2015 till date.

The outspoken academic also appealed to the visitor to instruct the Inspector General of Police and Director General, State Security Services to set up an independent investigating panel to look into the constant embarrassment meted on him by the law enforcement agencies due to the false reports given to them by the administrators in Federal Polytechnic Ile-Oluji, Ondo State.

Furthermore, he alleged that his life is under threat because of the numerous petitions written by him to expose the evil perpetrated in the institution by the Professor Fashakin-led administration and his co-travelers in top management positions.