Adebowale defeats acting VC, 15 others to emerge UI’s 13th VC

The current Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration) of University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Kayode Adebowale, of the Department of Chemistry, has emerged the 13th Vice-Chancellor of the nation’s premier university.

He defeated the incumbent acting Vice-Chancellor, Adebola Ekanola, and 14 others in a keenly contested process that took almost one year to resolve. The contestants were later pruned to eight.

The eight candidates who scaled through the hurdles of the first screening were later screened by the five-member Joint Senate and Council Selection Board of the university.

Chairman of the university’s Governing Council and former chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), John Odigie-Oyegun, made the announcement at exactly 7:57 p.m. yesterday.

Announcing the new Vice-Chancellor, Odigie-Oyegun said Adebowale emerged the best after a thorough process, which he noted was witnessed by representatives of the Federal Character Commission and the Federal Ministry of Education.

Odigie-Oyegun said: “The Governing Council at its just concluded meeting today considered the report of the Selection Board and approved the recommendation of the Board to appoint Prof. Kayode Adebowale as the next Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan. We wish him success in his tenure.”