Loto, Kukoyi, Odimayo, Oladipupo finger in plan to disrupt UNIMED

Three prominent staff of the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED) Ondo in Ondo State and a member of the Governing Council of the institution have been fingered in alleged attempt to disrupt the peace of the citadel of learning.

The staff and the council member who are said to be hell-bent at ruining the university are Prof. Adolphus Loto, Prof. odimayo,  one Olaalekan Oladipupo and Mr Kukoyi.

A group of concerned individuals under the aegis of the Concerned Stakeholders Forum has however raised the alarm over the continuous attempts of the aforementioned staff of the university to destroy the institution through propaganda, lies, distortion of facts and other malicious means.

The group in a statement by one Soledayo Majobalo pointed accusing fingers on Loto as the ring leader of the group championing the destruction of the university due to his selfish and greedy interest.

The group therefore called on the state Governor, Hon Lucky Aiyedatiwa and the Osemawe of Ondo Kingdom, Oba Victor Kiladejo, who is the Chancellor of the university to rise to the occasion and intervene in order to prevent Loto and his cohorts from ruining the 10 years old university.

The statement reads "the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo (UNIMED) was recently honoured at the 2024 Ondo State Public Service Awards for its exceptional contributions to health professions education and community development. 

"UNIMED was commended for its uninterrupted academic calendar, swift adaptation to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and its production of multiple sets of medical professionals in fields like medicine, nursing and physiotherapy. 

"UNIMED also boasts of Nigeria’s largest number of health-related courses and has consistently achieved a 100 percent success rate in professional regulatory examinations. 

"Additionally, its community programmes, including health outreach initiatives and educational competitions were highlighted as examples of its dedication to the public service.

"However, one would expect that with all the accolades received recently all in UNIMED is smooth sailing. But Professor Adolphus Loto and his co-travellers have continued to plot to destroy the peace and progress that UNIMED has enjoyed.

"Loto could only get his professorship in 2019 thanks to UNIMED after many years of stagnation at the Lagos State University's College of Medicine (LASUCOM) due to his abysmal academic record, which made him spent many years as a Senior Lecturer. 

"He was only appointed as a Reader/Associate Professor when he commenced his sabbatical at UNIMED in 2018 and due to his friendship with the former Registrar of MDCN who requested that Loto be promoted to professor for Dentistry to be accredited at UNIMED. 

"Loto has always left a trail of destruction wherever he has gone, he vowed to destroy LASUCOM before UNIMED provided him a route of escape and left Saudi Arabia under the most questionable circumstances after allegations of corrupt practices. 

"Loto is a self-serving and selfish individual who would stop at nothing to destroy the peace and stability that UNIMED has enjoyed. He wrote a petition to UNIMED’s Governing Council alleging corrupt practices by the Management team. It is noteworthy that Prof Loto served in this same management team as Deputy Vice-Chancellor till May 2024 when he was removed by the Senate and Council for gross misconduct. 

"He also petitioned the Special Frauds Unit of the Nigerian Police Force to investigate corrupt practices of which the entire UNIMED Management was exonerated, he also filed an action at the Ondo State High Court despite the fact the court had absolutely no jurisdiction in the matter.

"On the 16th of July 2024, a faceless group called the Coalition of Ondo State Indigenes against Corruption mostly full of a few misfits and petty traders who sell their wares in the precinct of the Governor’s office engaged in a stage protest to discredit UNIMED’s Council and Management. Leading the protest was one Feyiwa Adeola who spoke to the press along with Olawumi Love who led the protesters and carried a placard with Jonathan Obatola in the background. 

"From our investigations, it was observed that the placards were personally written by Loto, his handwriting was quite clear in the placards. Meetings were held between Prof Loto, Professor Michael Simidele Odimayo and their co-travellers to actualize the arranged process to embarrass UNIMED’s management team and the Governing Council. It is quite funny how Loto converts his former enemies to friends when his interests are at stake. 

"He had previously sworn to dismiss Odimayo and Olalekan Oladipupo if he was the Vice-Chancellor for their acts of indiscipline. Oladidupo has been allegedly fingered in high-level corrupt practice in the procurement of items for the University, it was only a call from the office of a highly positioned ondo State politician that abruptly stopped an investigative panel from recommending his dismissal. That is the way things work in Ondo State’s political scene with constant interference in the civil service and tertiary institutions by the political class. 

"Oladidupo has turned to a tool in the hands of Loto, he has been able to also recruit some members of the executive of the Senior Staff Association of Universities (SSANU) UNIMED Chapter in their battle against UNIMED Management. Oladipupo was the Caretaker Committee Chairman of SSANU in UNIMED before the University was unionized.

"Odimayo who is a professor of Microbial Pathology at UNIMED also with a fairly checkered academic record. He falsely claimed that he is a Virologist and sent a proposal to the Ondo State Government for a COVID-19 testing laboratory for N13 million which is impossible. 

"COVID-19 due to its highly infectious nature required a containment laboratory and not a kind of approach that Odimayo wanted to profit from. Odimayo had earlier served as the Dean of UNIMED’s Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences during which period he allegedly exploited and oppressed both colleagues and subordinates alike. 

"He would collect the monthly office imprest and require the Faculty Secretary to go and pick up used recharge cards around to retire the sum. He was also approved a sum of money by UNIMED to go to a conference, Odimayo simply pocketed the money insisting that he attended online and used the money to purchase a laptop. 

"Odimayo in recent years has twice contested as the lone candidate in the deanship election of the Faculty of Basic Clinical Sciences but still lost regardless. This buttresses how his colleagues in UNIMED neither respect nor rate him. Odimayo applied for a one year sabbatical leave from 16th December 2023 as Professor at Eko University of Medicine and Health Sciences (EKO UNIMED).

"However, on the 1st of March, 2024, Odimayo was sworn in as the Special Adviser to the Governor on Health by the Ondo State Governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.  Despite violating the University laws and the Ondo State Public Service Rules, Odimayo refused to suspend his sabbatical and apply for a leave of absence. 

"He was collecting salaries from both UNIMED as a professor and the Ondo State Government as Special Adviser till UNIMED’s Council stepped in to discontinue his salary and request him to pay back the arrears illegally collected. This act constitutes a corrupt practice and is a violation of the Code of Conduct Act. 

"It is however quite shocking that the Governor was sending requests made by UNIMED to Odimayo even though the University is within the supervisory purview of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Dr. Olawunmi Ilawole. Odimayo is on a mission to destroy UNIMED along with Loto and their co-travellers and one is left to wonder why the Governor has sent requests from UNIMED to him.

"One is left to wonder why the Governor would continue with Odimayo who has brought only scorn and embarrassment to the Ondo State Government including the charade of UNIMEDTH and several allegations and petitions of bribery and corrupt practices on the Governor’s table. 

"Another key ally of Loto in his sadistic and desperate mission to destroy UNIMED is Mr. Olaniyi Kukoyi who is a member of the Governing Council that was twice appointed by the Late Governor Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredoluu believing he was a distinguished personality.

"However, Kukoyi has refused to attend council meetings in Ondo town but only attends by Zoom due to a recent scandal. Kukoyi was recently involved in a serious scandal which brought to question his moral standing.

"Kukoyi only returned to Ondo after the scandal when Loto paid his expenses from Lagos to ensure his second term as Deputy Vice Chancellor scaled through without hitch at the Council. The trio of Loto, Odimayo and Kukoyi with their enablers within and outside UNIMED are on a mission to take over UNIMED and install those from their ethnic group/the old Okitipupa division of the State. 

"They are also the group behind the recent lawsuit initiated by Jonathan Obatola and Love Olawumi (on behalf of themselves and on behalf of the Coalition of Ondo State Indigenes) who have absolutely no relevance to UNIMED but are their kinsmen and hatchet men. 

"This group has consistently abused the court process and used the Ondo State Judiciary to harass UNIMED even when they do not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the suit. The Ondo State Judiciary up till now was regarded as one of the most forthright, the Honorable Justice Odusola, the Chief Justice of Ondo State is a man of integrity, though from that region, must ensure that these abuses of the court processes be halted immediately. 

"What has occurred in UNIMED in the last year would never have happened under Governors Mimiko and Akeredolu. A University that is now regarded as a centre of excellence in many fields mustn't be allowed to be destroyed by some selfish and self-serving individuals. UNIMED has brought in specialists in various fields from all over the Federation regardless of their ethnic groups, which is why UNIMED has the largest collection of medical and health sciences courses and has even written the curriculum for many new courses with the National Universities Commission. 

"These selfish individuals only want Ondo State indigenes in a specialized University. Is that sensible or realistic? Or does any law support that? In the ten years of its existence, UNIMED has only survived as a result of the ingenuity of its two Vice-Chancellors and the Management team. UNIMED got no start-up grant, and no facility apart from its Odosida campus, a converted secondary school.

"The Ondo State Government has only given one for infrastructure development in 2019 which built one building. The Government needs to stop paying only lip service to the survival of UNIMED and must come out firmly to disown the disgruntled individuals that have vowed to destroy UNIMED.

"UNIMED, at the moment, grapples with challenges of finance, land at its permanent site and arrears of salary increments.  It is quite shocking that most of the staff of the University destabilizing the system - Olalekan Oladidupo, Jeremiah Ojo, Funmi Orisadeke and many others - are mainly from the old Okitipupa division. 

"The question is why they have not gone to destroy the University in their area OSUSTECH but come to Ondo Kingdom to act out their destructive shenanigans. It is important to appreciate the Governor for the appointment of the Osemawe and Paramount Ruler of Ondo Kingdom, His Imperial Majesty, Oba (Dr.) Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo, CFR, Jilo III as Chancellor of UNIMED. 

"The Osemawe is a distinguished medical doctor that graduated from the first set of the University of Ife medical school and is a welcome appointment. We would request that the Governor call Loto and his co-travellers to order not to come to the Ondo Kingdom to destroy our UNIMED which has enjoyed much development and stability under Professors Okonofua and Fatusi. 

"We also request that the Osemawe, by his position, ensure that this rag-tag group of conspirators does not destroy the legacies of both Okonofua and Fatusi. UNIMED is the pride of Ondo Kingdom and the pride of Ondo State, even though it is the youngest of the tertiary institutions in the state it is blazing the trail," it added.