Undergraduates sue Makinde over relocation of LAUTECH agric faculty to Iseyin

Some students and parents at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso have filed a lawsuit against Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State in response to the latter’s decision to move the institution’s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences from Ogbomoso to Iseyin.

According to the reporting of InfoStride News, Makinde moved the institution’s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences to the town of Iseyin, which is located in the Oke Ogun geo-political zone.

The institution’s students who were in their second year were given the directive to relocate to Iseyin for the second academic semester of the current academic session.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit with the file number HOG/34/2023 are Akintayo Abdulqoyuum Ajibola, Onwi Bassey Edet, Ezekiel Gbadegesin Ogunmola, and Prince Aderemi Olude. The case was brought before an Oyo State High Court that was sitting in Ogbomoso.

In addition to these individuals, the education commissioner, the acting vice chancellor of the university, and the provost of the Iseyin campus are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The claimants are asking the court to issue a restraining order that will prevent the governor and his representatives from moving forward with the planned relocation.

The claimants are looking for three different types of relief, the first of which is “an order of the court directing the Respondents whether by themselves, their agents, servants or anybody under their authority to return all the already established courses moved from the Faculty of Agricultural Science and Renewable Natural Resources of the main campus of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso to Iseyin Campus back to the main campus forthwith.”

Additionally, they are asking the court to issue an order “directing the Respondents whether by themselves, their agents, servants or anybody under their authority to recall back the movement of all 200 level students as directed in the letter dated 19th October, 2023 signed by the Registrar of the 3 Defendant/Respondent on the authority of the 4 Defendant/Respondent from Iseyin Campus back to the main campus of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology.”

They are asking for “an order of injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, servants, or anybody under their authority from moving all of the already established courses from the Faculty of Agricultural Science and Renewable Natural Resources of the main campus of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso to the Iseyin campus or any other campuses outside the main campus.”

According to InfoStride News, as of the time this report was being filed on Sunday, no date had been set for the hearing of the claim even though it had already been filed.