Babcock University has dismissed as “false and malicious” a recent publication alleging sexual misconduct involving one of its Vice-Chancellor aspirants, Dr. Afolarin Ojewole.
The online report had claimed that Ojewole, a former university pastor and Associate Vice President for Spiritual Life, was previously sanctioned for sexual infidelity but was still being favoured in the ongoing selection process to succeed outgoing Vice Chancellor, Prof. Ademola Tayo.
Reacting in a statement on Monday signed by its Director of Marketing and Communication, Joshua Suleiman, the university described the report as “fabricated, baseless, cheap blackmail and a figment of the imagination of the writer.”
According to the institution, neither the university nor the Seventh-day Adventist Church has ever received any petition or allegation of sexual misconduct against Ojewole, contrary to the claims of a so-called advocacy group cited in the report.
The management clarified that Ojewole had left the university in 2018 on a leave of absence, alongside his wife, to provide parental support to their children in the United States, not as a result of any scandal.
It further stressed that the ongoing search for the next Vice-Chancellor, to be announced on December 1, is being conducted under the strictest ethical and spiritual standards of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, which has a 150-year history of transparent leadership transitions.
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“The appointment of the President/Vice-Chancellor of Babcock University is neither political nor subject to lobbying or compromise. It is a sacred process guided by merit, moral uprightness, intellectual capacity, spiritual soundness, and service to humanity,” the statement read.
The university also rejected insinuations that the current Vice Chancellor had manipulated policies to favour any candidate, describing such claims as “utter falsehood and sheer mischief.”
Babcock warned those spreading defamatory claims to desist or face legal action, reaffirming that it “reserves the right to seek redress under the law for any reputational damage.”
The institution urged candidates and their supporters to avoid smear tactics, adding that the selection of its next leader must remain untarnished by propaganda or blackmail.
Prof. Tayo is set to conclude his second term in November, with about seven professors reportedly in contention for the position.