The Federal University, Oye Ekiti (FUOYE) in Ekiti state has been ordered by the National Industrial Court in Akure to compensate Professor Niyi Akingbe, the former Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts, for his wrongful termination by paying him N40 million.

In the case between the claimant, Dr. Oniyide Ajisafe Akingbe, and the Federal University of Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State, the presiding judge, Hon. Justice K.D. Damulak, rendered the judgement in suit no. NICN/AK/58/2018 on October 29, 2024, according to court documents made available to Vanguard Correspondent in Ilorin.

https://www.instagram.com/godfatheraluminium1/profilecard/?igsh=dWw5YW05djR4MWNl

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558144097511&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Following around six years of litigation, the Industrial Court’s presiding judge, Hon. Justice K.D. Damulak, issued a decision that included the following:

The following is hereby declared and ordered: A declaration that a claim of plagiarism against the claimant cannot be made unless the work or publication of a specific author or authors that the claimant allegedly plagiarised is present, indicating the portion of the work that was copied, printed, or passed off as the claim’s original works without the claimant acknowledging those works.a ruling declaring the claimant’s termination by letter dated October 31, 2018, without a fair hearing, to be invalid.

Within thirty days following this ruling, the defendant must pay the claimant the N40,000,000 (forty million naira only) in general damages, failing which 10% annual interest would be applied. This is the court’s ruling, which is hereby entered.

According to information Vanguard could rely on, Professor Niyi Akingbe was a strong opponent of the university’s administrative procedures under previous Vice Chancellor Kayode Soremekun, who fired him after he was accused of plagiarism.

In addition to being unfair, the court determined that Akingbe’s 2018 dismissal was grounded on false accusations of plagiarism.

The Federal institution of Oye-Ekiti Act of 2015 and the pertinent rules controlling senior staff service conditions were not followed by the institution, according to the court proceedings that were documented.
During the trial, Akingbe’s attorney, Ademola Olowoyeye, said that the plagiarism accusations were imprecise and lacked solid proof.

The illegality of the letters accusing Akingbe of misbehaviour and the illegality of the Staff Disciplinary Committee that looked into the plagiarism charges were among the other assertions that the court considered.

Akingbe had fulfilled all the prerequisites for promotion to the rank of Professor in the Department of English, the Counsel notes, and it was illegal to deny him this promotion on the basis of unsupported accusations.