Bishop Oyedepo’s Convenant University Denies Muslim Students Admission! By Omobolaji Omoyele The dream of Mr. and Mrs. Taiwo Salami of Ijaye Housing Estate at Pen Cinema Agege, Lagos has always been to give their children the best education that will eventually make them useful not only to themselves but also to the society at large. So when their son, Ayomide Abdul Gafar Salami, began preparation to seek admission into a tertiary institution, they took their time to assist him in choosing a university that they believe would instill the best moral and academic development in their son. They (the couple and the boy) decided to choose Covenant University, Ota. “We want the best for our child and we found that the university is one of the best in the country. Apart from this, it ranks as one of the most peaceful and disciplined tertiary institution in the country which is devoid of the dreaded cult activities which have turned most Nigerian universities campuses into abattoir, hence the decision to settle for Covenant University,” Mr. Taiwo Salami, an employee of Eagle Paints at Agidingbi, Lagos explained why he and his wife, devoted Muslims, settled for Covenant University, owned by a fiery Pentecostal Christian organization, Living Faith Christian Ministry a.k.a Winners Chapel. Everything went according to plan at the initial stage. Ayomide sat for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination after filing the admission form online conspicuously choosing Covenant University as his choice of tertiary institution and Chemical Engineering as his choice of course. As a mater of fact, it was his father who filled the form on his behalf. When the result of the examination was released by the examination board, he passed out in flying colours, scoring 295 marks which was actually the second highest mark scored by students who picked Covenant University as their tertiary institution of choice. Pronto, the boy applied again online for the post-UME test which took place at the university campus. It was another conquering outing for him as he scored 65 marks out of the obtainable 80. Two weeks after the result of the post-UME was released, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) released the school certificate examination result and again Ayomide had an excellent result. Check it out: English Language, B3; Mathematics, A1; Further Mathematics, A1; Geography, A1; Chemistry, B2; Physics, B2; Biology, B3; Agricultural Science, B3 and Economics, B3. “We took the WAEC result to the university because we filled awaiting result for him when we filled the admission form and the result was accepted. When we were filling the admission form, there was a confidential form we were asked to print out for the pastor of the church the family attend to fill but since we are Muslims, we printed out the form and gave it to the Chief Imam of the Ijaiye Housing Estate Muslim Association who duly filled the form and we submitted it along with the admission form and other documents. After the post- UME test, the pastor was expected to write a letter of recommendation on the student which the Chief Imam duly did and we submitted to the university authority. So when our child passed the JAMB, post-UME and WAEC examinations, we were sure of his admission,” Mr. Salami told The Premier. But it was not to be. When the university released the first batch of candidates admitted, Ayomide’s name was conspicuously missing. “I made enquiries because naturally I believe my son’s name should appear on the first list on merit due to his performance. We were told to exercise patience as his name will come with the second batch list. It was while going through The Nation newspaper on 31st August, 2011 that I discovered that the second batch list for admitted candidates had been released but again our son’s name was missing. I even searched for his name from other courses thinking he might have been given another course other than the Chemical Engineering he applied for but it was quite clear that his name was not listed,” Salami narrated. It was a disturbed father who called his son on what transpired during the post- UME examination and Ayomide replied that nothing unusual happened. “I asked him how he got to know that the obtainable mark was 80. He replied that all the total questions were 80 in number. I asked him again how he got to know that he scored 65. He replied that the exam was computer- based that it was marked immediately they finished and the scored displayed on the computer. I asked him further what transpired after the examination, he replied that they were given bio-data forms to fill which he did,” Salami said further. He was determined to know why his son who performed so brilliantly was not offered admission; hence he asked his wife to go to the campus and enquired on what happened. “I wanted to go myself but my tight schedule will not allow me,” he said. When Mrs. Salami got to the campus, she met the admission officer addressing parents whose wards were not offered admission. He told them that the university has only vacancy for students offering Education courses. “My own case is different. My son scored 295 in JAMB, scored 65 in post-UME and had distinctions in all his subjects but was not offered admission,” she narrated to the admission officer who expressed seemingly genuine interest in the matter and asked her to follow him to his office. The admission officer confirmed what Mrs. Salami told him but later told him that the problem was that the candidate filled Muslim/Anglican on the religious space provided on the admission form. The woman was perturbed. She asked the admission officer if her child would be denied admission simply because of error in filling the religious space. It was a big shock to her when the admission officer told her that the university authority had decided not to offer admission to Muslims because the 12 Muslim students they took previously gave the school authority problems. The woman asked that if the university authority knew it is not offering admission to Muslims, it should have been indicated in the admission guidelines. It was a livid Mrs. Salami who left the admission office and laid an official complaint with the Vice Chancellor, Professor (Mrs.) Aize Obayan. She promised to look into the matter. “But we were surprised later when the Personal Assistant to the VC, one Mrs. Salami, called my wife and informed her that the admission officer had convinced the VC why Ayomide would not be offered admission but she did not tell us the reason given by the admission officer,” Salami said. It was a herculean task getting the side of the university. The Premier was first directed to the PA to the VC, Mrs. Salami who also directed us to the Admission Officer. At the initial stage, we were informed that he was not on sit but later we spoke with him on phone. In the first instance, he declined to give us his name saying he does not know the reporter hence he was not obliged to mention his name. On the issue at hand, he explained that the university admits Muslim students saying Ayomide’s case was different because there was an error when the admission form was filled. “In the space reserved for religion, he filled Muslim while in the space for denomination he filled Anglican and we felt we cannot allow this. One should be honest, if you are a Muslim or a Christian let us know your true religious status. However, the parents should have written a letter to the university authority correcting this error but the mother was impatience as she was just abusing us,” he said. But Ayomide’s father debunked this. “I filled the form myself and there is no way I filled Muslim/ Anglican. We are Muslims and we have never hidden that fact from anybody. My son attended Dansol High School in Ogba, a private secondary school with strict Christian background but this kind of thing never happened to him. All we want is good education for our child and that is why we chose Covenant University,” he said. The bone of contention is can a student be denied admission on religious excuse? A university don at the University of Lagos cleared the air. “So far it is not a theological university, the National University Commission (NUC) which regulates the operation and activities of universities in the country, frowns at religious discrimination in the admission of students into the universities be it private or public,” the lecturer said. The don stated that even if the admission form was filled in error, the university authority should find ways of explaining to the parents and things to be done and not wait until the parents came to enquire. “Moreover, it is not good to deny student outright admission on such excuse which I believe is flimsy,” he said. The Premier investigation however revealed that this is not the first time such act of religious intolerance would occurred at the university. About two months ago, the university sought applications from prospective lecturers in the university. One Fatai Akinpelu applied to be considered for employment as a lecturer in the Department of English. According to our source, he excelled in all the tests and interviews conducted by the university only to be informed at the end of the day that he could not be offered employment because he was an Alfa, that is, a Muslim cleric. A student of the university told us in confidence that he had to lie that he was Christian before he could be given admission. “I’m a Muslim and my roommate is a Muslim. I know some Muslim students who go into hiding before they pray. It is not a lie. You have to be a Christian before you are admitted,” the student told The Premier. However in the case of Ayomide Salami, the father has vowed to fight the issue to a logical conclusion. “I’m writing officially to the NUC, the Federal Ministry of Education and other relevant bodies. After this, I’m taking the case to court. This is an injustice I’m fighting to a logical conclusion,” he vowed.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 11:26:10 +0000
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