It would be recalled the Kwara State government had last year (21/5/2022) announced the removal of the College’s provost, citing mismanagement and insubordination among others.

However, on Friday, 18th March, 2022, the National Industrial Court sitting at Akure and presided over by Hon. Justice K. D. Damulak delivered its Judgment in Suit No: NICN/IL/08/21 and reinstated the removed Provost of the College of Education, Ilorin i.e. Prof. Abdulraheem Yusuf.

During the course of its Judgment, the Honourable Court granted all the main Reliefs sought by Prof. Abdulraheem Yusuf which is to the effect that Prof. Abdulraheem is entitled to exhaust his five year tenure, be paid all his outstanding salaries, allowances, entitlements etc and should be allowed to perform his duties without any form of interference from the Defendants who are the College of Education, Ilorin, the Council of the College, the Registrar of the College, the Governor of Kwara State and the Attorney General of Kwara State. The Honourable Court also granted cost of three hundred thousand naira in favour of the Provost.

The Judgement of the Honourable Court is premised on the provision of Section 26(2) and (5) amongst others which state that the Provost shall be appointed by the Governor, shall hold office for five years only, which shall be non-renewable and shall only be removed if the Governor is satisfied that having regard to all the circumstances existing at the particular moment, it is in the interest of the College to remove the provost.

Furthermore, the Honourable Court decried the arbitrary removal of the Provost as removal in itself connotes that a grievous and unpardonable errors must have been committed by the Provost and such error investigated and the Provost must have been granted fair hearing which was not the case when the Provost was purportedly removed.

While reacting to the new development ushered in by the Judgment of the Court, the team of Lawyers that represented the Provost consisting of Lanre Yahaya, Esq., H.G. Ibn Mahmud, Esq. expressed delight and praised the industry of the Honourable Court for a well delivered Judgment. The team of Lawyers further stressed that the judgment is a victory and win-win for all parties as justice was not only done but can be seen done. They therefore, urged the Kwara State Government to abide by the tenure of the Judgement in adherence to due process of law.