Several sources at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA) in Ondo State have detailed to SaharaReporters how the embattled Vice Chancellor of the institution, Adebiyi Daramola, deliberately misappropriated millions of naira belonging to the institution.
These sources explained how Mr. Daramola and the institution’s bursar, Emmanuel Oresegun, conspired to pocket and embezzle several million naira belonging to the university.
Documents obtained by SaharaReporters from these sources show how the corrupt Mr. Daramola syphoned these funds from the treasury of the Federal University on frivolous gifts and unnecessary trips using the school bursar, Oresegun, as an accomplice to perpetrate the corrupt act.
These documents also exposed a series of fraudulent transactions including illegal allowances made to council members, inflated costs for the procurement of properties, inflated and illegal duty travel allowances, and excessive diversion of intervention funds by Mr. Daramola.
A SaharaReporters investigation also revealed that the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation had on July 1, 2016, during periodic checks of FUTA reported that between January 2015 and December 2016, Mr. Daramola engaged in activities tantamount to corruption.
Documents of this report obtained by SaharaReporters, and signed by Okoligwe N.E., Director of Education and Research Institution for the Auditor-General for the Federation, criticized Mr. Daramola for misappropriating several millions of naira belonging to the institution.
Below are some selected fraudulent items by Mr. Daramola and documented by the teams of the visiting auditors from the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.
1. Misapplication of personnel cost allocation amounting to N13,324,012
2. Housing allowance paid to the vice chancellor while in government quarters- N3,851,730
3. Use of public funds to finance private expenses- N4,147,000
4. Irregular payment of allowance to council members- N1,500,000
5. Excessive cash advance amounting to N8,882,540
6. Direct procurement of motor vehicles without approval/waiver from BPP – N78,450,750
7. Transfer of fund for fixed deposit- N100,000,000
The team had recommended in its report that Mr. Daramola should explain how these funds were spent, and that they be refunded to the government.
Based on this discovery of the report, some aggrieved FUTA staff consulted Olugbenga Oke-Samuel, an attorney who owns the “LAWVILLE” law firm, to petition the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following the fraud.
Our investigation revealed that the petition led the anti-graft commission to invite Vice Chancellor Adebiyi Daramola and the Bursar, Emmanuel Oresegun, for questioning regarding the allegations of the financial fraud involving the institution’s treasury.
A copy of the petition obtained by SaharaReporters showed that another set of documents was received by the EFCC on September 14, 2016, and comprehensively itemized, showing that the embattled vice chancellor and his cohorts in the governing council board perpetrated an “unmitigated fraud and mindless stealing” of the university’s resources.
Our correspondent had reported that these aggrieved members of the university staff protested last week against Mr. Daramola, and his accomplices, calling for their immediate resignation.
These staffs said during their protests that since the vice chancellor and bursar are on the “black list” of the EFCC they should step down from their positions pending a thorough investigation of the anti-graft agency.
The aggrieved staff, led by their union leaders, paralyzed academic activities at the university and blocked entries to the two main campus gates, disallowing vehicular traffic into the school.
Leaders of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff of Nigeria Universities (NASU), and National Association of Academic Technologists (NATU) under the Joint Action Committee (JAC) associated themselves with the demonstrations, SaharaReporters can authoritatively report.
These three unions during one of their protests on the main campus of the school asked the Federal Government to set up a private “audit team or visitation panel” to further investigate the financial accounts of the institution beginning in 2012.
The Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigeria Universities (SSANU) in the institution, Dele Durojaiye, told SaharaReporters that the university vice chancellor Mr. Daramola was corrupt.
Mr. Durojaiye said the vice chancellor had been running the university community with “impunity” and using all available means to milk the funds provided to the school.
“The Vice Chancellor [Daramola] is a very corrupt man to the extent that he supports himself with the money in the purse of the school.
“He is a child of corruption otherwise he wouldn't have been Vice Chancellor of this reputable school.
“Even his letter of employment right from the days of being a director in the university were all forged for him,” the SSANU Chair said.
He also exposed how Mr. Daramola was given a free highly furnished lodge/quarters and still corruptly draws monthly housing allowance from the university purse, using a close ally in the institution’s community to perpetuate the fraud.
“Also he [Daramola] collects allowances on security and lodging for faceless friends of the university on monthly bases," Mr. Durojaiye told SaharaReporters.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University (Academics), Olatunde Araleya, who has since been defending and shielding the fraudulent vice chancellor, said that Mr. Daramola is still innocent of all allegations against him despite the implicating documents noting that he is innocent until he is proven guilty by the law enforcement agencies currently investigating him.
