UNIABUJA VC Tussle: 43 Professors Petition Speaker House Of Reps

Over forty professors led by Raphael Akinfeleye have written a petition to the speaker, House of Representatives over what they captioned matters of urgent national importance: anarchy at the University of Abuja, UNIABUJA over illegal appointment of Professor Aisha Maikudi as vice chancellor.

In the petition dated January 25, 2025, drawing the attention of the chairman house committee on university education, the professors prayed the committee to immediately summon the Minister of Education to explain why the ministry has kept silent and allowed the crisis to fester in spite of the strident petitions, demonstrations and extensive media coverage on what they called the shameful selection and abuse of due process.

The petition is also asking questions on what appears to be double standard on the part of the ministry given the fact that the Visitor, President Bola Tinubu through the minister acted immediately in dissolving the Governing Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, UNIZIK when due process was not followed in the crisis there.

According to the professors, what happened at UNIZIK that led to the sack of the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar as well as the dissolution of the university council was a child’s play to what transpired in UNIABUJA.

The petitioners are also asking the Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council, retired air vice marshal Sadiq Kaita to explain the gross violations of virtually all laid down procedures, regulations and laws during the selection exercise conducted by him.

It noted further what appears to be failure of Kaita’s leadership and gross incompetence on his part given the fact that he can no longer call the meeting of council having lost the confidence of three out of the five external members of Council who have passed a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

The petitioners used the letter to allege that there is a cover up by the council of a 3.2 billion naira annual fraud that was discovered by the Presidential Visitation Panel to the university in 2021 and the refusal of council to implement the directive of the Visitor on the matter.

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Professor Akinfeleye and his aggrieved team are equally demanding that the selected Vice Chancellor, Professor Aisha Maikudi explain why she decided to participate in drawing the eligibility criteria for the position of Vice Chancellor, preside over a Senate meeting where members of the interview panel were to be elected and participated in virtually all council deliberations during the selection process, knowing fully well that she was also an applicant for the position.

The complainants are asking why professor Maikudi allegedly decided to invite security personnel to intimidate and molest Senate members as well as her acclaimed inability to move the University forward by not calling Senate due to her illegitimacy.

The petitioners are asking her to justify the huge university resources expended by her and which are beyond her approval limit when she and her entourage recently chartered an aircraft to visit the Emir of Bauchi, the Chancellor of the University.

Another enquiry of the professors is why Professor Maikudi decided to unilaterally fix the date for the next convocation and sought the approval of the Visitor without the mandatory prior approvals of the University Senate and the Governing Council.

The professors urged the right honourable Speaker to treat the crisis at the University of Abuja as a matter of urgent national importance, as failure to address the concerns raised could have far-reaching consequences for the university and the higher education system in Nigeria as other Governing Councils will gladly emulate what they described as ugly and unfortunate path taken by the University of Abuja Governing Council, warning that the University is now at a standstill.

Meanwhile, the university spokesman, Habib Yakoob told AIT’s Abulu Osemuaghu via telephone that all allegations of fraud are false and that the selection of the vice chancellor followed due process.

(Editor: Okechukwu Eze)