Date: 2017-04-27

The Ilorin Emirate Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) has condemned attacks on outgoing Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, saying they are aimed at preventing another Ilorin indigene from succeeding him.

The group described the attacks as "mischievous".

National President Alhaji Abdulhamid Adi, who addressed reporters in Ilorin, said the union was concerned about the security, peaceful coexistence and smooth academic calender in the university.

The group said it was not out to shield Prof. Ambali, but cannot watch "while feats attained by the university and the vice chancellor, an Ilorin indigene, are undermined."

His words: "We owe ourselves, and generations to come, the obligation to speak out against the malicious and mischievous simply because our people have been making marks on the sands of history.

"Our own son did things differently, to the extent that today, everyone wants to study at the University of Ilorin. The current ranking of the university speaks eloquently for our son's courage and doggedness. It's our responsibility to ensure that our people are not disgraced, embarrassed or ashamed. Any attack on them is a direct attack on us as a people.

"It is our hope and prayer that sentiments against Ilorin, and what it stands for and represents, be stopped forthwith, as the hatred being exhibited by Ilorin phobists cannot yield any fruit but retrogression for the system.

"Leadership is given and taken by God only, and no amount of blackmail can stop Him from His majestic powers to rule and overrule."

Adi, who said the Ilorin people supported five vice chancellors before Prof. Shuaib Oba Abdulraheem, all non-indigenes, lamented alleged hostility to Ilorin sons whenever they were in charge.

The IEDPU called on the national executive council of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), to hold a credible election in the university's chapter, to ensure peace and unfettered operation, saying the issues which culminated in the emergence of two factions of ASUU in the university should be resolved.