On Friday, a Federal High Court Abuja dismissed a suit seeking to overturn Professor Abayomi Sunday Fasina’s appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) in Ekiti state.
In a judgment, Justice Inyang Edem Ekwo ruled that the plaintiff, Tableland Society For the Oppressed (TSFO), lacked locus standi to bring the suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/250/2021.
Justice Ekwo also ruled that the plaintiff failed to show that it had been registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to engage in public interest litigation and question the activities of government agencies.
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The judge, after upholding the defendants’ preliminary objection, denied jurisdiction over the case and dismissed it.
The suit names as defendants the Minister of Education, the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, the Chairman of the Governing Council of FUOYE, the Registrar of the institution, the Chairman of the National University Commission, and Prof. Fasina.
TSFO had argued, among other things, that Fasina was unqualified for the position because he had allegedly been indicted for wrongdoing and had also performed poorly in the interview during the selection process.
It charged the university’s Governing Council with rigging the selection process in favor of Fashina.
The plaintiff asked the court to, among other things, vacate Fasina’s appointment and order a new appointment process.
According to court documents, “the sixth defendant (Fasina) was indicted by the committee established by Ekiti State University Ado-Ekiti for receiving double salary from both Ekiti State University Ado-Ekiti and Federal University Oye-Ekiti.”
The appointment of the 6th defendant, who failed the selection interview, violated Section 42 of the Constitution.
“The defendants have all endorsed and unjustly conferred the position of Vice-Chancellor on the 6th defendant, who is not qualified, at the expense of qualified candidates purely based on discrimination.”
The 6th defendant was the worst candidate at the interview, but was unfairly favored by the 3rd defendant, in violation of section 2: 14C of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti Regulations governing the service of senior staff.
