The management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, has denied any link with Charles Jide-Oni, the cyber crimeb suspect who claimed to be a ‘professor’ at the institution.
Jide-Oni, 60, was arraigned in a federal high court in Lagos on Wednesday by the EFCC for allegedly defrauding his victims of several millions of naira through false pretence.
Reacting to the matter, Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olanrewaju, on Friday, told PREMIUM TIMES that the institution has no lecturer with such name whether in the past or now in the institution.
Olanrewaju, who was responding to questions asked him earlier on Thursday, said going by the records available to the institution online and offline, Mr Jide-Oni was never a lecturer or non-teaching staff of OAU.
“From our records here, past or present, we do not have anybody that is a professor that bears that name. We have also checked through our data, nobody bears that name,” he said.
“The fact that the person calls himself a professor, we need to address the title of a professor because we have Senate data. All professors, retired or working, are part and parcel of the university. So, if anybody now claims to be a professor in OAU, whether a lecturer or not, it is fraudulent in the first instance.
“Having gone through our records, nobody bears that name, whether a male or a female. We do not have a record of anybody with that name who is teaching or has taught in this institution,” Mr Olanrewaju said.
Jide-Oni was grated bail by the court in the tune of 10 million naira with two sureties in the likely sum and who must be Grade Level 10 public servants and residents of Osogbo, Osun state capital.
He was ordered to be remanded in Ilesha prison pending when he meets up with the bail condition while the main hearing was fixed for October 14.
The information about him on books.google.com.ng tallies with information on Mr Jide-Oni’s Facebook account, including pictures provided by the EFCC.
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