Obasanjo Denies Receiving Salary As NOUN Lecturer, Demands Apology From VC

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has demanded an apology from the Vice-Chancellor of National Open University of Nigeria [NOUN], Prof Abdalla Adamu, for claiming on Wednesday that he receives N40, 000 salary a year as NOUN lecturer.

But Obasanjo has swiftly declaimed the report, saying it was embarrassing and mischievous to say he receives salary from the institution.The former president demanded an apology from the office of the VC.

The VC was quoted to have said, “Mr Obasanjo’s allowance is N40,000 a year and he is happy being our facilitator. He has an office in our Abeokuta Study Centre, where we attached to him two students of Christian Theology.”

But Obasanjo says he renders service to the university free of charge. He therefore asked Mr Adams to retract his statement and offer him an apology.

In a statement by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi, the former president said “the very clear quotation of the Vice-Chancellor made it necessary for him to make the clarification and to set the records straight on his engagement with the university.

“Ordinarily, this will have been unnecessary exercise, if it has been the usual shenanigans of the media to sell their newspapers. But, the very clear quotation of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Abdalla Adam, on the headline made this clarification imperative and to set the records straight on His Excellency’s engagement with the University,” the statement said.

“In putting the records in right perspective, His Excellency wishes to draw the attention of the Vice-Chancellor to his letter dated 12 April 2018, which was written to the University Registrar, Mr. Felix Edoka, when the Council offered him a Part-Time appointment as an Instructional/Tutorial Facilitator and Project Supervisor in the Faculty of Arts at the Abeokuta Study Centre.”

Obasanjo recalled stating in paragraph 3 of his acceptance of the job that: “I will gladly undertake any of the functions mentioned in paragraph two of your letter pro bono and I hope that the functions will be flexible enough to accommodate my rather tight schedule.”

He said he stated in his letter that the appointment was received with “pleasure and duty to give back to others out of what God and NOUN have given me.”

The former president said Prof Adamu’s statement was embarrassing to him, “having generated mixed reactions across the globe, hence, the need for the Vice-Chancellor to retract the statement and tender an apology.

“The publication, which has generated mixed reactions from the general public and calls from far and near on the Elder statesman expressing concern, is, to say the least, embarrassing, uncharitable, mischievous and in bad taste, with immediate demand for a retraction and apology from the Office of the Vice-Chancellor,” the statement said.