Legal battle unfolds over LAUTECH’s faculty relocation to Iseyin

A group of students and parents from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso has taken legal action against Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State for relocating the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences within the institution to Iseyin.

Governor Makinde’s decision to move the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences to Iseyin, situated in the Oke Ogun geo-political zone, has caused an uproar among students, particularly second-year students who were instructed to continue their studies in Iseyin for the second semester of the current academic session.

The lawsuit, identified as HOG/34/2023 and filed in an Oyo State High Court in Ogbomoso, lists Akintayo Abdulqoyuum Ajibola, Onwi Bassey Edet, Ezekiel Gbadegesin Ogunmola, and Prince Aderemi Olude as plaintiffs. The defendants include the Commissioner of Education, the Acting Vice Chancellor of the university, and the Provost of the Iseyin campus.

The claimants are seeking a court order to prevent the governor and his representatives from executing the proposed relocation. Their demands include the return of all courses moved from the Faculty of Agricultural Science and Renewable Natural Resources on the main campus of LAUTECH in Ogbomoso back to the main campus. They also request the recall of 200-level students from Iseyin and an injunction to stop the transfer of established courses from the Faculty of Agricultural Science and Renewable Natural Resources to Iseyin or any other campus outside the main campus.