By SANNI ZAKARI
The recent and perhaps, likely upcoming series of unhealthy development in protests and agitations at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), has some political undercurrents: A through investigation has exposed these underhand dealings.
The familiar script is being played: unions agitating, allegations flying, and the serene academic environment threatened. However, a closer look beneath the surface of this latest “crisis” reveals a sordid tale of vested interests, bitter losers, and a desperate attempt to hijack the University’s governance for selfish gains.
The current upheaval, championed by the non-academic staff unions, is not an organic outcry from a wronged workforce. It is a carefully orchestrated smear campaign, the brainchild of a tiny clique of so-called ‘Concerned Senate Members’. These members, who have failed in their political ambitions within the University, are now using their positions to further their personal agendas, rather than the welfare of the staff.
At the heart of this chaos is the impending process for the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor. The University Governing Council, following the explicit directives of the Honourable Minister of Education, has set forth clear, transparent criteria for the role. It appears these conditions have disqualified the ambitions of this vocal minority. Unable to compete on merit and terrified of a level playing field, they have resorted to their oldest trick: causing chaos to disrupt a process that does not favour them.
A credible investigative media report in Nigerian Tribune on page 28 and 29 exposed their modus operandi as far back as August 27th, 2025, in a publication titled “THE FUOYE FILES: INVESTIGATION REVEALS THE STORY BEHIND NEGATIVE NEWS.” A video later surfaced in other news media showing this group gathering in a shadowy meeting to plan an “illegal press conference.” The event was tellingly branded as being for “Senate members,” yet only three actual Senate members bothered to show up. Who made up the numbers? Non-academic staff union leaders! This immediately raises a critical question: WHAT IS THE BUSINESS OF NON-ACADEMIC STAFF UNION LEADERS WITH THE EXCLUSIVE DECISIONS AND PREROGATIVES OF THE University SENATE?
The answer is simple: they are being used as cannon fodder. The academic cabal, a group of influential academics, provides the script and the strategy, and the union leaders, perhaps unaware or willingly complicit, provide the loud voices and the street power to execute a plan designed solely to serve the interests of their puppeteers.
Their accusations are as hollow as their support base. They scream about a N128 million approval for the VC on leave. This has been promptly and categorically refuted by the Acting Vice-Chancellor with factual evidence. They rant about a N900 million staff quarters project, claiming money has been paid. Again, this is a blatant falsehood. No such payment has been made. These are not genuine allegations; they are fabricated soundbites designed for newspaper headlines and to create a false impression of corruption where none exists.
It is a pathetic attempt to paint the University’s management and governing council with a tar of impropriety to justify their planned insurrection and force the hand of external stakeholders.
Furthermore, the staggering hypocrisy of this clique and their union foot soldiers is exposed not in their public grandstanding but in their private actions towards their own members. While they theatrically accuse the University management of financial impropriety, they are themselves guilty of a grave and verifiable injustice: the deliberate and vindictive deprivation of legitimate “earned allowances” released by the Federal Government for all staff.
Credible reports indicate that the union leadership, in a blatant act of tyranny, has selectively denied these lawful payments to members they perceived as disloyal or insufficiently supportive of their illicit agenda. These ‘earned allowances’ are a significant part of the staff’s income, and their deprivation has caused financial hardship. Hardworking, rank-and-file staff of FUOYE have been forced to forfeit their rightful earnings not due to any policy of the University administration or President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but at the whims of a few union bosses playing a cruel game of reward and punishment. This is not governance; it is gangsterism. These are not champions of the workforce; they are its oppressors, willingly withholding bread from the mouths of their colleagues to maintain a stranglehold on power and silence dissent.
This cruel manipulation of staff welfare reveals the true character of the agitation. It is therefore the height of irony for these very individuals to posture as crusaders against corruption and mismanagement. The question that demands an immediate answer is not the one they are shouting in the streets, but the one they are desperately trying to silence: Where is the money meant for the deprived staff?
The call for a probe must be redirected. Instead of their baseless cries against a University management operating with transparency under regulatory guidelines, it is this union leadership that should be thoroughly investigated and called to account. They must be questioned for embezzling the goodwill of their members and for financially suffocating hardworking FUOYE staff to fund a selfish political war they have no business waging.
It is a pathetic attempt to paint the University’s management and governing council with a tar of impropriety to justify their planned insurrection and force the hand of external stakeholders.
The authorities must not stand by while this charade continues. The Governing Council and the Federal Ministry of Education must call these non-academic union leaders to order. They must be made to understand that they are being manipulated into destabilizing their own place of work for the benefit of a few individuals still smarting from their political irrelevance.
The staff of FUOYE, the students who seek quality education, and the public deserve better than this theatre of the absurd. The process for appointing a new VC must continue unhindered, based on merit and the guidelines set by the regulatory authorities. The future of FUOYE must not be held hostage by a clique of failed aspirants and their willing tools in the unions. It is time for the silent majority of dedicated staff and scholars at FUOYE to stand up and reject this politics of blackmail and destruction!
