The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has demanded the prosecution of a lecturer, Prof. AbdulAkeem Agboola, of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB) over alleged age falsification.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of NANS in Ogun State, Damilola Simeon on Sunday, it was revealed that the Professor of Mathematics had been suspended by the university over the allegation.

Simeon disclosed that the Academic Staff Establishment Unit of FUNAAB had investigated Agboola and indicted him of age falsification and discrepancies in the names on his certificates.

According to documents made available to DAILY POST, the university had in an internal memorandum of April 13, 2021, requested Agboola to submit his birth certificate as well as his MSc and PhD certificates on April 16.

The memorandum, with reference number, FUNAAB/R/A/SP.467/1/207, said it was observed during periodic review that Agboola did not submit the documents.

In his reply on April 16, Agboola described the claim that he did not submit the documents as “highly embarrassing and worrisome.”

The lecturer claimed that, “Since I joined the services in 1994, I have participated in at least two staff auditing exercises where my originals credentials were shown to the panels and photocopies submitted.”

While saying he also submitted his PhD certificate in 2002, the Professor expressed concern that someone might be “tempering and playing foul with my personal file in the registry,” saying he had resubmitted the documents requested to the registry.

However, the Academic Staff Establishment unit, in another memo on April 23, told Agboola that nobody was tampering with his file, saying, however, that the there was no evidence of submission of the documents.

For his MSc, the Professor was said to have submitted a ‘To whom it may concern’ letter and not a certificate to the university.

“You submitted a “To whom it may concern letter as evidence for completion of your M.Sc when employed as assistant lecturer in 1994, not a proper certificate.

“There was never a form of submission of any doctoral certificate, if you have any contrary evidence, kindly submit it

“There was no evidence of birth certificate submitted.

“In any way, a quick review of the credentials submitted have shown various inconsistent in the names on them, right from your birth certificate, through your doctoral degree certificate.

“Consequently, there is immediate need for you to explain these inconsistency as it cannot be safely said that various names on different certificate belong to the same person.

“It also observed that the date on the birth certificate is not in tandem with the 60th birthday celebration you recently had in public space…”

Reacting on Sunday, the students body asked the university to make public, the findings of a panel set up to investigate the allegations against Agboola.

NANS maintained that students of Agboola had on several occasions reported “his high-handedness which borders on sadism, coupled with his infamous ramshackle relationship with both students and staff members,” saying “such a person, if found culpable, is not worthy of being found among academicians.”

In their demands, the students said, “While we implore the management of FUNAAB, under the leadership of Prof. Felix Kolawole Salako as well as the Academic Staff Establishment Unit to observe due diligence and thoroughly investigate the allegations, we also urge that the issue be referred to relevant quarters for appropriate sanctions.

“We also demand that the findings of the panel that was set up to investigate the allegations be made public and necessary actions taken within the next 14 days.

“Should the management fail to do the needful, our members won’t hesitate to take all legal steps within our constitutional rights to press home our demands,” he stated.

Efforts to reach Agboola for comments were unsuccessful as he did not pick several calls to his mobile phone, neither did he reply a text message sent to him.

Also, the Public Relations Officer of FUNAAB, Kola Adepoju, did not answer calls to his phone too.

by Taboola
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