The leadership tussle rocking the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos has taken another dimension as workers, under the aegis of Concerned Staff, and the embattled provost, Dr Wahab Azeez, are trading accusation and counter-accusation of threat to life.
The workers are accusing Azeez of using the police and other state agents to threaten and harass them, while Azeez is accusing the workers of threatening his life and those of his family members.
The workers and Azeez have been at loggerheads since May 27 this year, following the call by the workers that his tenure of office has lapsed.
As a result of the face-off, the workers have since that day locked up Azeez’s office and those of other management staff.
The workers alleged the Azeez forcibly took over the use of the Home Economics Laboratory for his personal use.
“The supervisory body from National Assembly gave him a notice to quit the facility and hand it over to the Department it was built for. He promised to leave the facility, but he never did. The Department is afraid to demand their facility from him for the use of the students it is meant for, ” they said.
They also accused him of using the police to harass those opposed to him.
In return, Azeez alleged the workers were being sponsored by some people interested in truncating his tenure for them to become the provost.
The bone of contention has been the interpretation of the Federal Colleges of Education Amendment Act regarding the tenure of the provost.
The Act signed into law by President Bola Tinubu provided a five-year single tenure for provost.
However, Azeez was appointed in 2019 under the provisions of the former law that allowed a four-year renewable tenure and was given another term of four years in 2023.
The workers are saying he should only enjoy one year of his new term to make five years in office.
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, has sent a delegation to the college to assess the situation, but not much has happened.
It was gathered that the minister will meet with the warring sides later this week, as the issue has crippled both academic and non-academic activities on campus.
