New Telegraph

Tension over VC’s selection, as varsity council relocates to Abuja for safety

The process to produce a successor to the incumbent Vice Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Prof. Francis Otunta, whose tenure elapses in February has commenced.

 

But not a few stakeholders are worried that the process which hitherto was thought to be foolproof and ironclad, now appears integrity-challenged and for all reasons, less than credible. About 30 persons are angling for the position, but recent developments in the University suggest that the selection process may be fraught with alleged political intrigues, influence-peddling, distrust, accusations and counter accusations.

 

A senior academic who confided in our correspondent lamented that members of council seem poised to violate an agreement between ASUU and federal government on the template that should be adopted for selection of Vice Chancellors, and communicated via a white paper.

 

According to him, the white paper should guide the grading of the applicants for the position of the Vice Chancellor but appears to have been jettisoned.

 

Though figures and scores are being bandied around the university community, but feelers from impeccable quarters in the University community suggest that according to the screening done in accordance with the White Paper, one Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe was said to have led the rest with about 92.35 points while his closest rival, Prof. Val Ekechukwu scored 88.93 points.

 

Yet another score published in one of the major dailies (not Sunday Telegraph) credited Prof. Val Ekechukwu with 88.93 points while Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe got 88.35 points. While sampling views on campus, multiple sources insisted that Prof. Iwe made the highest score and some went further to accuse members of council of allegedly ‘shifting the goal post in the middle of a match’, by introducing ICT as another item for screening in violation of the White Paper.

 

They alleged that with that, Prof. Ekechukwu’s score was spiked while Prof. Iwe got less, after the actual grading had been concluded. At this point many stakeholders faulted the process and the outrage which followed the alleged dramatic turning of the table against Prof. Iwe resulted in demonstrations and protest marches in the University condemning what was widely described as an ‘abracadabra process’.

 

The selection process was supposed to have been concluded by Friday but in a twist of events, the Chairman of Council, Hon. Lawal Mohammed Zayyana left town and travelled back to Abuja claiming that he no longer felt safe in the University environment thereby further spiking the suspicion of foul play.

 

Consequently, the Deputy Registrar for Council Affairs, Mrs. U.O.K. Onuma sent out notices via text message that “the resumed meeting of the 27th Emergency Meeting of Council will hold Mon. 14-12-2020” at the University’s liaison office at Utako, Abuja. What further stalled the process was the fact that two members representing the University Senate in the screening panel, Prof. Ekumankama and Prof. Nlewedim were said to have opposed and rejected the ‘strange item’ introduced in the scoring guideline for assessing the Vice Chancellorship applicants.

 

Our correspondent gathered further that without the two Professors who are members of the Senate accepting the grading as entered by the external members of the Governing Council who are supposedly politicians, the outcome of the exercise may remain void.

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