The management of the University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo State, has dismissed the allegation made by the institution’s Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) against the university’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe, describing it as malicious.

According to the management of the institution, the allegation of threat to life made against the Vice-Chancellor was an attempt to malign  Adejuyigbe’s person over her efforts to reposition the university.

The union had, in a petition to the Nigerian Police, raised an alarm over alleged threats to the life of its Chairman, Oluwaseyi Abayomi, allegedly orchestrated by the Vice Chancellor.

In a statement issued by the university’s Public Relations Officer, Issac Oluyi, the union resorted to blackmailing Adejuyigbe when their “outrageous and ludicrous demands” were not met.

Meanwhile, the institution’s management has issued an ultimatum to the SSANU Chairman, Seyi Abayomi, to publish a rejoinder in two national daily newspapers, debunking the allegations against Adejuyigbe. Failure to comply, the statement warns, will result in legal action.

The statement read in part: “This publication is a calculated attempt to malign the personality of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe, who, within four months of assumption of office, has taken the institution from the precipice occasioned by nepotism and tribal sentiments to the right track of remarkable progress UNIMED has always been known for.

“The allegation of threat to life is a cheap blackmail by detractors and agents of destabilisation. It is laughable that the failed strategy adopted under the administrations of the first and second substantive vice-chancellors is at play again.

“UNIMED is a model medical school known for excellence nationally and internationally. It is unfortunate that some sections of the university want the institution to be run as an extension of their village, where they can gather to tell the VC what to do and what not to do.”