Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has approved the suspension of the Provost of the Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Prof. Jimoh Atanda Afolabi.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Olawale Rasheed, gave the indication in a statement made available to journalists on Friday.
The statement read that the suspension of the Provost is with immediate effect.
The directive is said to be in line with the interim report of the Investigation Panel headed by Kazeem Akinleye, Chief of Staff to the governor.
The statement further read that the Governor also approved the recommendation of the committee that the Chairman of the Governing Council, Dr Peter Babalola, remains in office as there is no proven case of abuse of power or financial wrongdoings against him.
It read, “The allegation of over N200million (Two hundred million Naira) fraud levelled against the Council Chairman was found to be unsubstantiated with documentary proof or transaction details.
“The cash advance of N3million (Three million Naira) to the council chairman was found to be within the college’s financial regulations with all documentation verified by the committee.
“Based on a thorough review, the committee discovered that the allegation of N200m fraud levelled against the Chairman of the Governing Council is untrue, diversionary, baseless and fallacious.
“Documentary evidence (voucher) revealed that he only collected a sum of N3million (Three million Naira) as a cash advance which is officially allowed.
“On the Provost, the Committee reviewed three previous reports of investigations into various allegations of financial malfeasance, abuse of power and corruption levelled against him dating from past administrations to date.
“The Committee, after a thorough review of the reports including that of the State House of Assembly alongside its own investigations, recommended immediate suspension of the Provost which is now endorsed by the state Governor.
“Sequel to the findings of the investigative Panel, the Provost of Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Prof. Jimoh Atanda Afolabi, is hereby suspended on the grounds of financial impropriety, concealment of official information/ records, and failure to update the Governing Council on the important issues of the College.
“The Committee is billed to submit its final report at a later date.”
It will be recalled that trouble started early in January when the Chairman of the College Governing Council, Peter Babalola, suspended Prof. Afolabi for financial misappropriation.
The state government inaugurated a three-man panel of enquiry headed by the Chief of Staff to the state governor.
The panel later reinstated the Provost pending the outcome of the investigation by the panel.
Comments