Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye has condemned the protest against the appointment of Professor Adebayo Simeone Bamire as the current Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University.

The overwhelming protest by the natives of Ife was due to the fact that the appointed professor was not an indigenous of Ife city. The protest, according to Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye is “disturbing and unnecessary considering that there was a highly publicized ad for the position and qualified academics was invited to apply.”

The final decision that led to the appointment was made following a rigorous selection process, “this shows that it was based on merit,” Gbenga said.

Commenting on the appointment, the council’s chairman and pro-Chancellor of the university Oscar Owelle said: “The Selection Board painstakingly examined the Curriculum Vitae and interacted with each candidate and scored them according to stipulated criteria, the three highest scoring candidates were presented to the council for further consideration as provided by law”.

The screening exercise was opened to all qualified academic including indigene of Ife town.

Hon. Gbenga said it was a highly competitive and merit-based selection, and the result showed that the emerging Vice-Chancellor was one of the best performing candidates; “based on the report, which is now a public knowledge, Professor Bamire polled higher than all the candidates, including his more senior colleagues, ” the recipient of the distinguished 2005 Leadership Qualities Award said.

Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye also pointed out that Obafemi Awolowo University is a federal institution, as such, merit is the core yardstick, “it is important to inform the protesters that this is a federal institution, merit is what is important and no indigenization agenda will be tolerated,” He said.

“The appointed professor is a Yoruba, and also an indigene of Osun State, a man of impeccable qualities, to overlook the achievement of this professor just because he is not from Ife says a lot about the deeply rooted politics of indigenization,” he added.

Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye appealed to all that the vice Chancellor should be given a chance to move the university forward.

“My advice to the people is to allow the emerged vice Chancellor which was chosen based on merit to focus on his plans to move the university forward and all acts of distraction should be seen as a waste of time. I believe this is what Obafemi Awolowo who was the brain behind the university and also a non-indigene would have advised,” he said.