The Chairman of the National Association of Non-Academic Staff of Universities, OAU branch, Mr Wole Odewumi, said the management of the university had shut the garden.

He explained that the veterinary technologist was attacked by the lion while he was attempting to free a woman, who was first attacked by the lion.

Odewumi said, “I spoke to some of his colleagues, and they told me what happened. The lion attacked a woman first. The woman is also a staff working at the zoo.

“The deceased intervened to free the woman from the lion. He must have assumed that the lion would recognise him. His intervention to free the woman must have infuriated the animal. The lion left the woman and attacked him squarely.

“After he was freed from the lion’s grip, they rushed him to the health centre on campus here. He however died before he got there. But the second person that was attacked, a woman, is still on admission receiving treatment presently.”

Odewumi also said a mourning procession was held on the campus on Tuesday in honour of Olawuyi while the management of the university met with his family.

He said, “We held a mourning procession in honour of the deceased this morning and members of the management addressed us after that sober event.

“All unions on campus joined the procession. The management promised to take necessary action. There will be a committee that his union will also have a representative in, that will work on the issues raised. I have visited the scene. The zoo has been locked up. It is officially locked up.

“The management will not want anybody to go there for now. Some members of the family of the deceased were around and we handed them over to the management.”

Going by the information on the Curriculum Vitae of the deceased, the 59-year-old Olawuyi born on  December 22nd, 1965 would have exited service in 2025.

The management of the institution had in a statement signed by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olanrewaju, on Monday, explained that members of staff who were at the scene of the incident did everything within their power to rescue the deceased, but could not, as the animal held him and mauled him.

According to a video recorded at the scene, the lion was later shot dead by a security operative working with the school, as the mangled remains of the late Olawuyi soaked in blood were laid at the entrance to the garden.

Adesola’s sentence was pronounced at the sitting of the court on Wednesday by Osun State Chief Judge, Adepele Ojo.

The judge had pronounced her guilty of conspiracy to fabricate evidence and conceal the fact that the deceased lodged at the facility before he died during the court sitting on Tuesday.

But due to pleading for leniency of the court by her counsel, Okon Ita, and the prosecution, Fatimo Adesina, the judge delayed her sentencing till Wednesday.

The hotel owner, Dr. Ramon Adedoyin, and two of his staff, Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem had been earlier sentenced to death by hanging.

The court found them culpable in the death of Adegoke, who arrived at the hotel on November 5, 2021, but was later found buried in a shallow grave along Ife-Ede, by police detectives, days after he has declared missing.

Both Adesina and Adesola’s counsel had urged the court to consider the age of the defendant and the circumstances under which she acted and treat her case with leniency.

Justice Ojo in her judgement, said she took notice of the plead for leniency for the defendant and the provision of Section 411 of the Constitution.

She said, “I have considered the passionate plea of the 7th defendant and the submission of the prosecution on the need to temper justice with mercy. I have observed and considered the sober disposition of the 7th defendant in court throughout the trial.

“I am equally mindful of the circumstances surrounding the case of the 7th defendant. I am not unmindful of the provisions of the Section 411 2(b) of the law. I hereby sentence you Adedeji Adesola to 2 years imprisonment starting from the first day of your arrest.”

The rumour about Elujoba’s death had spread widely on social media. However, in a statement released by the Public Relations Officer of the university, Abiodun Olanrewaju, on Thursday, titled ‘Professor Anthony Elujoba is alive, stop the death rumour,” it was stated that Elujoba was indeed involved in an auto crash, but still responding to medical treatment.

The statement read, “The attention of the authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, has been drawn to an unfounded rumour making the rounds in the social media that a former acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Anthony Elujoba is dead.

The rumour was not only false, but wicked, malicious, unfortunate and downright satanic. Most unfortunate was that a few conventional media houses (Not The PUNCH) also aired the rumour on their frequency modulation, abandoning the age-long media maxim of ‘if in doubt, leave out.’

“To put the record straight, Prof. Elujoba is not dead. It’s true that he had an auto crash and he has been on admission in the hospital. It is heartwarming to know that he is responding to treatment.

We, therefore, want the general public to disregard, in its entirety, the malicious rumour and be praying for quick recovery of the erudite scholar.”

The decision to commence strike was part of the resolutions reached at the ASUU emergency Congress held on Monday.

A communique issued after that Congress, signed by Dr Adeola Egbedokun, the OAU ASUU chairman, further read in part, “Congress noted that there was no serious commitment on the part of the University to effect payment of EAA to deserving members. Congress also noted that all political and diplomatic means to resolve the imbroglio has failed. Consequently, congress resolved that: Total, Comprehensive and Indefinite Strike should commence immediately ii. The strike must not be called off without a congress resolution to the effect. Payment of EAA must be based on ASUU computation. Anything short of this would be unacceptable. The Strike Coordinating Committee be set up to monitor the strike. Based on the above and on the strength of the permission granted by ASUU National President, the Chairman, on behalf of the congress declared the commencement of ASUU.”

A statement by the Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olarewaju, announced the reopening.

It stated that “the decision to reopen the University was taken at an emergency meeting of the Senate, held on Friday, 29th October 2021.”

The release further stated that “the students would come to the residence on Friday, 5th November 2021 and continue with their examinations on Saturday, 6th of November, 2021 in tandem with what was previously on the ground.

“Parents and guardians are hereby advised to inform their children and wards, particularly those who have already finished their examinations to stay at home so that none of them would use the excuse of the reopening of the University to do something untoward.”

Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, charged the students to be law-abiding and not to engage in anything that could further elongate the session.

The students were to sit for examinations on the 2nd October 2021 before they embarked on protests on the 1st of October over the death of one of their colleagues, thereby scuttling the writing of the remaining examinations.

Tertiary institutions nationwide were closed for over 9 months in 2020 partly because of the protracted strike action of the union as well as the COVID19 pandemic.

ASUU on December 23 called off their strike.  The National Universities Commission NUC have asked Universities to resume for classes on January 18. The directive for reopening came with a strong warning that school administrators must ensure strict adherence to all COVID19 protocols which include sanitizing, wearing of facemasks as well as social distancing.

Members of the Academic Union are however saying that the resumption date isn’t feasible as most of the universities cannot adhere to the COVID19 protocols. The chairmen of various chapters of the union in various institutions said the COVID19 protocols cannot be adhered to in classrooms and hostels that are already crowded.

The chairman of the union at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Dr Adeola Egbedokun, said no preparations have been made so far for the safe re-opening of the universities and urged parents to insist on safety before re-opening.

Egbedokun said “COVID-19 is very real and this second wave is as real as described. We cannot afford to toy with our health and the health of our dear students in the name of resumption, which is politically motivated. There are no preparations for safe re-opening of the universities and I think parents must insist on safe re-opening. The current classroom and hostel configurations in our universities do not in any way confirm with the PTF (Presidential Task Force) on  COVID-19 protocols. There is no way universities can achieve that. I have said this elsewhere, that rather than for the government to have addressed the obvious deficits in the public universities during the lockdown and strike, they were playing to the gallery.”

In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2021 which includes more than 1,500 universities across 93 countries and regions (making it the largest and most diverse university rankings to date), University of Ibadan (UI) took the number one spot in Nigeria and also ranked at number 401–500 in the world.

Lagos State University (LASU) took the second place and the University of Lagos (UNILAG) occupied the third position at number 501-600 and 601-800 respectively.

The ranking also placed Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State (801-1000) as the best private university and 4th on the national ranking. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka (1000+) and Obafemi Awolowo University (OUA) Ile-Ife (1001+) occupied the 5th and 6th position positions.

Motunrayo who recently made news after she disclosed she had an audio recording from one of the many times Olaleye allegedly pestered her for sex in return for good grades, said the lecturer, in the presence of a male student, molested her in his office when she went to seek adjustment to the time of an exam which clashed with another 400-level examination she was meant to take.

She said “Our class representative told us that the lecturer said we should come and check our results in his office, which actually is not normal because we have a portal where we check results. Like everyone, I went there to check and he told me I scored 38 out of 100 and that I should leave his office. I left but the class representative said the lecturer wanted to rectify any hitches for those who had problems before it is posted on the portal. So I went back to him yet, he insisted I leave his office. I had to register the course again but could not attend the class because it clashed with another course. I then went to him to seek his permission to excuse me from the class. But when I heard through other students that he was threatening those who were not attending the class that they would fail the course, I went back to his office again. And that was when he started saying I should come to his house to cook for him, spend the weekend with him. He said if I can agree to have sex with him, I may not even write the sex with him that I will pass. I refused the offer.
After a while, the examination time table was released, I discovered that the paper clashed with another 400-level course, and when I got to the department to lodge complain I discovered he was the exam coordinator and I had no choice than to meet him again. When I met him, he just laughed and said he knew I would come back. I found out that he wouldn’t force you because he knows you don’t have a choice. So, he started saying since I refused to heed his advances, I would have to fail the course again. I pleaded with him to adjust the time table, he said he wants us all to fail again. All of a sudden, he moved close to me and started pulling my clothes, harassing me and forcing me to hug him. There was a guy in his office at that time and something just struck me to record him. I told him to let me go since he said he would not adjust the time table. He tried to kiss me, I pulled away and immediately left his office. I later went to the HOD and the time was adjusted. I wrote the exam and rushed to the other paper where we were given extra time. I didn’t know he was doing that to other girls until I told someone who linked me up with the management before other girls started complaining. ”Some other girls were not bold enough to come out so we created an anonymous WhatsApp group where every girl dropped complaints. He has a wife but I heard she divorced him because of his randy nature, but then in class he used to tell us his wife is abroad. He even told me that if I come for a visit, I won’t meet anyone because his wife is abroad. As at now I have not seen my result online but I heard it was given to another lecturer. I felt bad to have failed the course because I have never failed a course before. I am not the best student but I am also not very bad. That is the only course I have ever failed”.