By Steve Oni, Ilorin 

 The  Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. AbdulGaniyu Ambali, says  the recent fire incident that ravaged the institution's multi-million naira teak plantation is traceable to sabotage.

 He equally traced  the recent criticisms of his administration in certain quarters to succession struggle as his tenure as the vice chancellor will end in September,  this year.

 Ambali who broke his silence on the  recent criticisms of his administration during a chat with  journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, on Monday said a committee has been set up to unravel the  circumstances  surrounding the burning of the teak plantation.

 The  VC accused  a few 'disgruntled' academic staff of the university as the  brains behind his ordeal.

 He said: “So I won’t be surprised as I have been told that it is the tradition of some people, whenever the tenure of a vice chancellor is coming to an end they embark on smear campaigns against him.

 “The campaigns are aimed at ushering me out with ignominy instead of saying thank you for the service rendered, they would say ‘who told you to do all this?’ that to me is not the best way.”

 Ambali added that the bashings were calculated attempts to smear the reputation the university had garnered over the years.

 He said: "To me the rising tempo of attacks on my administration is a wrong approach to succeed in life. If you want the seat of the vice chancellor, there are laid down procedures by government. You don’t destroy somebody in order to occupy his place. You can as well be a fellow good passenger in the bus, so that the bus can get to its destination safely and peacefully and all of you can disembark and go home. But by destroying the same vehicle you want to use to get to your own destination as well, nobody will get there.

 “And now the latest option is to put our reputation at stake by defaming the famous university of Ilorin and demystifying all the reputation we have garnered over the years. All the allegations that are going round are calculated at undermining all the 17 years of uninterrupted academic calendar the university has earned. That has also undermined all the good and hardworking staff of the university.

 “That to me is very unfortunate. In any democratic setting there should be room to allow some idiosyncrasies; allow people to be slightly different and do something different from the majority of the people, so that we can appreciate the skills and talents God has given everybody.

 “If you could recollect, that same week we had great challenges at the same time. We had the fire incident at out plantation; the CBT crisis and the write-ups all geared towards putting one into confusion and to see whether he would not break. I inherited a peaceful university and by the grace of God I will leave the university better than I inherited it. We are on course. We have recorded  tremendous growth in the university.”