Five professors, including the wife of the Commissioner for Environment, Mr Tunji Bello, Professor Mrs Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, have begun the final race to succeed Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun SAN as the ninth substantive Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, LASU, Ojo.
Other contenders are Prof Olumuyiwa Odusanya, Prof Senapon Bakre, Prof Kabir Akinyemi, and Prof. Muyiwa Awofolu.
Olatunji-Bello and Odusanya are from the College of Medicine, Bakre and Akinyemi are from the Faculty of Science, while Awofolu is from the Namibian University of Science and Technology.
They are expected to face the final screening exercise this week before three are recommended to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to make a choice.
The tenure of Fagbohun is coming to an end on January 11, 2021. The front runners are Olatunji-Bello and Odusanya.
This is the third time Olatunji-Bello would attempt to become the VC of the institution and has served in many capacities including Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics and later as Acting Vice Chancellor.
Odusanya on his part is the Director of Research and Innovation and has organised two research fairs during the administration of Fagbohun.
Sources at the university say a lot of lobbying is on by the candidates, but there is also the anxiety that a wrong choice of candidate may erode all the gains recorded during the tenure of Fagbohun.
He is widely acclaimed to have turned around the fortunes of the university in the last five years.
LASU moved on in ranking to become the second best in the country.
