… Edo AG Says Students Misguided
Tension has erupted at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) after a series of petitions emanating from a group of law students and concerned staff separately seeking the intervention of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Council of Legal Education (CLE), and Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa.
The students allege that the Edo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Roland Otaru (SAN), was awarded a “fraudulent” Professorship of Law by the institution.
The concerned staff accused the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina and the University Council Chairman, Senator Victor Ndoma- Egba of ‘running FUOYE like a “private enterprise” with little regard for university statutes, financial regulations, and ethical governance standard.”
The petitioners also demanded the immediate removal of the University Council Chairman, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), and the suspension of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina.
In the concerned staff petition signed by Comrade Kamal Odunjo-Saka, which the Minister’s office reportedly acknowledged, the concerned staff allege that “the alliance between Senator Ndoma-Egba and Prof. Fasina has crippled accountability structures and turned the once-promising institution into a haven for corruption, intimidation, and mismanagement, adding that attempts to question their impropriety has led to victimization and threat of sack.
The students in their petition, dated December 7, 2025, and signed by Comrade K. Akanbi (S.A.L.), described the alleged conferment as “a great academic fraud and complete abnormality,” on Edo State AG, accusing the university management of violating established academic procedures.
According to the students, Otaru—an Ilorin-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria—does not possess the academic qualifications or scholarly record required for professorial elevation. They claimed he obtained his PhD in Law only two years ago from a private university in Ogun State and has never taught, supervised, or examined postgraduate law students in any Nigerian university—criteria they insist are mandatory for promotion to Associate Professor or Professor.
The petitioners further alleged that the process was tainted by “financial inducement,” accusing FUOYE of commercialising an academic rank that should be awarded strictly on the basis of research output, teaching experience, and contributions to legal scholarship.
They issued a mid-January 2026 deadline for the NUC and CLE to commence a full investigation or face a week-long protest, insisting that law students would no longer remain quiet while “the university’s professorial title is traded for political and professional patronage.”
The students also claimed that several lecturers within the Faculty of Law are aware of the alleged irregularities but have remained silent out of fear of institutional reprisals.
In his reaction to the student’s petition, the Edo AG said he would not be distracted by uninformed and misplaced campaign based on ignorance of his tract records as a published author of peer reviewed books well stocked in University libraries and read as course materials by students.
“Before mobilizing protests, it is advisable to open your law library, read his texts, examine his contributions to legal scholarship, and confirm what your lecturers already know: that you are being misled into a losing and dishonourable battle. Those pushing you into this academic misadventure are not fighting for truth; they are fighting shadows, and dragging students into unnecessary controversy, he said through a statement issued by his media spokesperson, Comrade Robinson Akhenoba, adding that “no amount of protest will erase his books from your shelves. No level of agitation will withdraw his publications from citation. No sponsored campaign will suppress a man whose academic works have already educated thousands, including some of your own lecturers. Prof. Roland Itoyah Otaru SAN, PhD is not a professor because someone wishes it so; he is such because scholarship made him so, and the evidence of that scholarship is everywhere you care to look.
“More importantly, beyond academia, Prof. Roland Itoyah Otaru SAN, PhD currently serves as the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Edo State, appointed on merit. That position has been earned, confirmed, and sealed. Whether you choose to question his professorship, his career, or even his birth, the outcome remains unchanged: the battle has already been lost. The sponsors of this futile campaign will fail like the walls of Jericho. Their efforts will scatter, but the legacy of scholarship will stand firm.”
