The Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke has authorised the suspension of Prof Jimoh Atanda Afolabi, the Provost of the Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun.
Olawale Rasheed, the governor’s spokesperson, said in a statement that the suspension is effective immediately and is in accordance with the interim report of the Investigation Panel, which is led by the state governor’s chief of staff, Kazeem Akinleye.
The statement, which was made public on Friday, also stated that the Governor had accepted the committee’s recommendation that Dr. Peter Babalola, the Chairman of the Governing Council, continue in his position because there isn’t any concrete evidence of him abusing his position or engaging in financial misconduct.
According to the statement, “The allegation of over two hundred million Naira fraud levelled against the Council Chairman was found to be unsubstantiated with documentary proof or transaction details.
“The cash advance of three million Naira to the council chairman was found to be within the college’s financial regulations with all documentation verified by the committee.
“Based on a thorough review, the committee discovered that the allegation of N200m fraud levelled against the Chairman of the Governing Council is untrue, diversionary, baseless, and fallacious.
“Documentary evidence (voucher) revealed that he only collected a sum of three million Naira (N3m) as a cash advance which is officially allowed.
“On the Provost, the Committee reviewed three previous reports of investigations into various allegations of financial malfeasance, abuse of power and corruption levelled against him dating from past administrations to date.
“The Committee after a thorough review of the reports including that of the State House of Assembly alongside its own investigations recommended immediate suspension of the Provost, which is now endorsed by the State Governor.
“Sequel to the findings of the investigative Panel, the Provost of Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Prof. Jimoh Atanda Afolabi is hereby suspended on the grounds of financial impropriety, concealment of official information/ records; and failure to update the Governing Council on the important issues of the College.
“The Committee is billed to submit its final report at a later date.”
Remember that issues arose early in January when Professor Afolabi was suspended by College Governing Council Chairman Peter Babalola for embezzlement.
A three-man panel of enquiry led by the state governor’s chief of staff was formed by the state government to prevent the impending crisis from getting worse.
Later, the panel reinstated Prof. Afolabi as Provost, pending the conclusion of the panel’s investigation.