Ekiti State University (EKSU) Vice Chancellor, Prof. Samuel Bandele, has denied alleged massive underground recruitment of new workers, award of contracts without due process and frivolous foreign trips with his spouse.
Bandele is being accused of purchasing ten new cars, awarding contracts to his wife, Mrs. Comfort Titilayo Bandele, and taking her on official foreign tours “when she is not an official of the university.”
The staff also accused the VC of renovating his residence to the tune of N20 million and appointing his wife as Director of EKSU Water, a business venture of the university.
The allegations were levelled by workers in the university who distributed leaflets containing the alleged “sins” of the VC.
Defending his integrity, Bandele described the allegations as “lies from the pit of hell.”
He accused some former workers who were dismissed for forgery and certificate racketeering as the brains behind the allegations.
According to him, seven of them were sacked after being indicted for the scandal.
Bandele denied recruiting 300 staff “secretly”, saying only 15 new workers were employed since the last major recruitment exercise of last year.
The EKSU boss also denied the allegation that his wife was in charge of admissions, contracts and employments and her appointment as Director of EKSU Water.
He admitted going on foreign official trips with his wife which he said were done on economy class, rather than business class to which he was entitled.
Bandele said: “This place was a den of corrupt people selling certificates and don’t expect that these people will be my friend.
“There are evil people here, they don’t want the university to grow; before I came to office, there was a cabal here. In fact, they forged my signature and these people have been dismissed.
“Last year, we recruited 300 but some people alleged that we recruited 700 or 1,000; these are lies because since the recruitment of last year, we have only recruited 15 persons to fill some vacancies.”
Speaking on foreign tours with his wife, Bandele said: “I will continue to travel (abroad) with my wife because I will not travel with somebody else’s wife.
“Some women here are not happy that I did not take them along and I have no apology for travelling with my wife whether local or overseas. If I travel with my wife, why are they angry?
“We travel by economy class even when I am entitled to business class but I write for a waiver because I don’t want to defraud the university.
“When I came on board, I told the Procurement Officer not to give any contract to my wife. She has not taken a kobo contract.”
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