OYINLOLA NEVER CEDED LAUTECH TO OYO

The immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Osun State, Niyi Owolade has denied that the Olagunsoye Oyinlola administration ever signed any agreement ceding LAUTECH to Oyo State before it left government in November last year.

Owolade, in a statement issued in Osogbo yesterday said what was signed by the two governors in October 2010 was the legal framework prepared by the National Universities Commission (NUC) Committee on LAUTECH and the Attorney Generals of the two states for the special committee to work on the ownership crisis.

Owolade said he was aware that Rauf Aregbesola was given a copy of that legal framework by the NUC Committee when he became governor last year. He added that Aregbesola ought to have sought for information 'from those who know' of the issue before making public comments, as Prince Oyinlola did when the LAUTECH crisis broke out.

Owolade wondered how people could claim that LAUTECH was ceded to Oyo State in October 2010 by Prince Oyinlola when it was public knowledge that as at November 2010 when Oyinlola left government, his administration had a case at the Supreme Court against the unilateral actions of Oyo State on LAUTECH.

'We say emphatically that there is no agreement between Oyo and Osun states ceding LAUTECH to Oyo State. What was signed by the two governors of Oyo and Osun states in October, 2010 was the legal frame work to be adopted by the committee set up by the National Universities Commission (NUC) on the ownership crisis rocking the institution. If the Oyinlola government had ceded LAUTECH to Oyo State in October 2010, it would not be at the Supreme Court in November 2010 contesting the illegality of the unilateral decisions of Oyo State on LAUTECH.

'We want to state that Prince Oyinlola, throughout his tenure, fought gallantly against any insults targeted at Osun State from all quarters. He is too patriotic, seasoned and committed to the cause of Osun State to chicken out of any battle for whatever belongs to the state as of right. We are happy that even Aregbesola for the first time acknowledged this when he said that on LAUTECH matter, Prince Oyinlola 'stood courageously like a Prince.'