Governorship candidate on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Delta State and former minister of State for Education, Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi FNIM, OON, has described as laughable comments credited to the Vice Chancellor, National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), Prof. Peters Olufemi.
The NOUN Vice Chancellor, who was in Delta State with the management staff of the University, in a courtesy visit to the Deputy Governor, claimed that the Deputy Governor of the State, Sir Monday Onyeme, was “never involved in any wrongdoing as a bursar or in his relationship with people”.
He equally said: “there was never a time when a panel was set up by anybody concerning Sir Monday Onyeme or indeed the bursary department of the university”.
But in a swift reaction on Friday 11th August 2023, the former minister said he found the comment from a professor of his (Olufemi), status not only a rude shock but a display of moral decadence, rascality and a public show of shame.
He who expressed dismay and disappointment that Prof. Olufemi, could put his integrity at stake.
He challenged the Vice Chancellor to tell the world how Onyeme left the institution just as he warned him to be silent if he doesn’t have fact on an issue.
Gbagi who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Kenneth Orusi, threatened to indict the NOUN Vice Chancellor.
Hear him: “Femi who has displayed unprofessional conduct and have lose count should tell the world how much he collected to come to make this dirty tour.
“He should show the discharge certificate or otherwise of Onyeme at the time of his exit from the University, he should show what sendoff or how did Onyeme left the University, he never met me as a Vice Chancellor.
“And for him to make comments carelessly when he does not have facts, makes him a laughable human being.
“We have a lot of professors, if you hear their stories, you will be ashame of yourself. Prof. Nwanze, here, he met me when I was a minister when he was then in trouble at the University of Benin.
“I don’t want to start reeling out names but Femi should keep quiet and has no right to comment when the minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, for Education, is talking”, advising him to remain quiet or tries other side of midnight.
It would be recall that Gbagi, during cross examination at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Asaba, the State capital, told the tribunal that Sir Onyeme, was dismissed from the services of the National Open University of Nigeria, for ‘forgery’.
Gbagi, a renowned Criminologist, who was cross examined by the counsels to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Respondents, told the tribunal that as a former minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he presided over the Panel that dismissed Onyeme.
According to him, “I was a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the 4th Respondent, was my staff at best. I was never a staff of the registry, the 4th Respondent was a staff under me.
“I can tell that for forgery and records that are being kept, I presided over the Panel as the minister of the federal Republic of Nigeria, in his dismissal. I constituted the panel. The 4th Respondent appeared before my panel.
“The 4th Respondent has several incursions into our lives as a people. After he left the National Open University, he came here as a tax collector.
“Apart from the dismissal, there is an administrative Enquiry that enquired into his finances and the dismissal, is part of it. We terminated his engagement, the reason for him to have abruptly left the University services”, the security expert, maintained.