The suspended Provost of the Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Osun State, Prof. Jimoh Afolabi, on Tuesday, dragged the Chairman of Governing Council of the institution, Peter Babalola; members of the council and three others before the National Industrial Court, sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The state Governor, Ademola Adeleke, through a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, had on January 26, 2024, suspended the Provost on the grounds of financial impropriety.
Afolabi, who initiated the suit before he was suspended as the provost of the college, was challenging the governing council’s decision to set up a probe panel to investigate him while in office.
Also joined in the suit are the state government, the College of Education, the state Ministry of Education and eight members of the governing council of the institution.
At the hearing of the suit before Justice Hasan Yakubu, counsel for Afolabi, Adesola Adebisi said the defendants did not file any process before the court but were only represented.
Counsel for the defendants, Muyiwa Ogunleye and Adewale Ishola, apologised to the court for their failure to file their processes.
Ogunleye promised to present their processes to the court at the next adjourned date.
Counsel for the plaintiff, Adebisi said, “The suit was filed consequent upon the invitation of my client (Afolabi) before an investigative panel set up by the Chairman, Governing Council of the institution. My client should not be seen as being removed from office as the matter had been instituted before his purported suspension and subsequent removal from office.
“In the face of the law, Afolabi remains the Provost of the Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun. His suspension is against one of the prayers before the court.”
The presiding judge, Yakubu subsequently adjourned the case till April 17, 2024, for further hearing.