The mega rally of the All Progressive Congress (APC) on Tuesday, 10th July 2018, ahead of the Saturday’s governorship election in Ekiti State presented an opportunity for APC party members to not only applaud their candidate but also to indict the opposition.
One of those who passionately seized this opportunity was Adams Oshiomhole, the newly elected APC National Chairman. During the rally, he said that he made efforts to read books, published works and the PhD thesis written by Kolapo Olubunmi Olusola, the PDP governorship candidate, but was unable to find any of those documents.
He further questioned the legitimacy of Olusola’s professorship based on his findings.
“I understand the one they are bringing, they said he is a professor,” Oshiomhole said.
“So I went to the library and I was looking for any of the books that he may have written because to be a professor you are supposed to have published a lot of materials. I wanted to read any of the books written by this professor so that I can gauge how his mind works.
“But then, when I couldn’t find, I asked the librarian, this candidate who wants to contest with Dr Fayemi, where are his published works, I want to see his PhD thesis so that I can evaluate it and it will give me a window into his heart. There is none. I say none!”
“Se ti iwo o ba ko iwe, bawo ni iwo se je professor,” he added using a Yoruba expression, which translates in English as: “if you did not write a book, how then did you become a professor”.
THE CLAIM
- Olusola does not have any books or academic papers written by him or accessible to the general public.
VERIFICATION OF CLAIM
News reports claim that Olusola graduated as the best student of his set in 1989 when he had his first degree in Building from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). He holds a Master’s Degree in Construction Technology from the University of Lagos in 1993 and PhD in Building Structures from Obafemi Awolowo University in 2005. And he has lectured both at Covenant University and OAU.
GOOGLE SCHOLAR TO THE RESCUE
A simple search by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) on Google Scholar, a freely accessible web search engine that indexes a wide range of academic literature, revealed that Kolapo Olusola has an exclusive profile page.
His works have been cited in 390 places. The vast majority of indexed academic papers are either authored only by him or in conjunction with other researchers.
Also, his unpublished PhD thesis “Factors Affecting Compressive Strength and Elastic Properties of Laterized Concrete”, has been cited up to 21 times, including in this paper: “Determining the Properties of Green Laterized Concrete with Fly Ash for Sustainable Solid Waste Management”.
AMAZON DISPLAYS HIS CO-AUTHORED BOOK
Olusola’s scholarly works have also been featured on Amazon, the world’s largest electronic commerce company. A book, which he co-authored with Babatunde Olawuyi, “Volcanic Ash Blended Cement Laterized Concrete”, is listed for sale on the platform. It was published in 2017 and costs $49.
FURTHER VERIFICATION
Twice on Wednesday, the ICIR reporter visited the OAU Department of Building to confirm the submission and availability of Olusola’s PhD thesis. However, the departmental secretary, with access to the theses, requested the reporter to come the following day. On Thursday, there was no official available to attend to the ICIR’s request. Nevertheless, Olusola’s books on the internet show that he has scholarly articles which are accessible to the public.
CONCLUSION
It is false – as the APC National Chairman suggested – that Olusola has not written any books, research papers or PhD thesis. While it is possible the library he visited does not contain any of such works, a simple web search is all that is needed for Oshiomhole to have an idea about the PDP aspirant’s scholarly works.