Intrigues behind Njodi’s emergence as UNIMAID’s VC

ON Tuesday June 3, Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, assumed office as the ninth vice chancellor of the University of Maiduguri, (UNIMAID) succeeding Prof. Mala Mohammed Daura, whose tenure expired on Monday, June 2, thanks to the intervention of the supervising Minister of Education, Mr. Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, who spearheaded the resolution of the protracted disagreement between the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman and members of the Governing Council of the university, over Daura’ successor.
   At a meeting, which the minister convened in Abuja barely three weeks ago, between the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Governing Council, Mallam Lawan Bukar Marguba; principal officers of the university and some top officials of the ministry to resolve the stalemate that trailed Njodi’s appointment at a special council meeting at Kanem Suites, Abuja, on May 20, Wike, a lawyer was reported to have directed Marguba, who has been stoutly opposed Njodi’s emergence to respect the decision of the majority of the council members who voted to appoint Njodi. Marguba was also advised to go to court, if he held anything against the new vice chancellor.
  Shortly after the meeting with the minister, the council in a two-paragraph statement in Abuja, signed by the school’s Registrar, Babagana Muhammad Aji affirmed the Njodi’s appointment.
  The statement said the appointment of Njodi, a professor of Physical and Health Education, and immediate past deputy vice chancellor (Academic Services) of the university takes effect from June 3, for a non-renewable period of five years.
   The statement further stated that the appointment was “duly certified” by the Governing Council of the university at a special meeting it held on May 20th, 2014, having emerged the overall winner out of the 11 candidates interviewed for the position.
   The minister’s intervention came on the heels of steps taken by the Federal Character Commission (FCC), which has been actively involved in the selection process and the eventual certification of the newly appointed university helmsman.
   The commission’s stamp of approval was contained in a Certificate of Compliance with Ref FCC/099/S.5E/19/11/267, dated May 23rd, 2014. The letter addressed to the University of Maiduguri entitled, “Authority to Issue Letter of Appointment to Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi as the Vice Chancellor of University of Maiduguri.”
   According to the document, “On no account shall the name of the approved candidate be substituted/replaced, altered without prior written consent of the commission.”
 Marguba has been in serious disagreement with his other council members since the commencement of the selection process in April. The acrimony stirred up fresh debate about the “indigenisation” of the appointment of vice chancellors for federal universities.
  Though the current leadership of the National Universities Commission (NUC) and even the one before it has been working towards eradicating it from the Nigerian university system, the trend, it appears, would continue to haunt the nation for some time to come.
 The process of appointing a new vice chancellor for the school began well, but when it was apparent that the candidate anointed by the powers that be was far from the clinching the coveted office, things began to get awry.
  In line with the legal requirements of the laws establishing the university, the council on January 23rd this year advertised the position of the vice chancellor, thus marking the beginning of the process of selecting a new helmsman.
  The law also requires the university to constitute a search team and a selection board from its statutory organs, made up of the Governing Council, the Senate and the Congregation. Members of the search team and selection board were elected accordingly. Legally, the process leading up to the selection of a vice chancellor is a joint task executed majorly by the Governing Council and the Senate of the institution.
  The joint council and Senate selection Board comprises two external members of the council, appointed by the Federal Government; two professors from the Senate, who are not members of the council, with the Pro-Chancellor as the chairman.
   Accordingly, Dr. Paul Attah and Chief Innocent Oparadike, a journalist, both of whom are representing public interest in the council were elected as external members on the Joint Selections Board, while profs. B. R. Badejo and Abdulrahman Tahir represented the Senate of the university and Marguba chaired the panel as stipulated by law.
  Over a period of three days from April 22 to 24, the Joint Council and Senate Selections Board met and successfully interviewed all 11 applicants. Both the Education Ministry and FCC sent in representatives to observe the process. They were Mrs. Oluwatofunmi E. Akamo, a deputy director while Mr. Haruna Mamuda Gadam stood in for FCC.
   At the end of the three-day exercise, the board recommended three top candidates for final selection in order of their performance at the interview.
  On the score sheet, Njodi amassed 90.1 per cent and was followed by professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Isa Hussaini Marte who scored 71.2 per cent. Prof. Abubakar Kundiri of the Faculty of Agriculture came third with 69.5 percent.
  At a special meeting of the council convened on April 25th to consider the report of the exercise, Marguba, who had signed the final report of the selection suddenly, aborted the meeting claiming to be in receipt of an anonymous petition against one of the applicants, apparently, the candidate with the highest scores.
  Against convention, he held on to the report and ordered that a summary, without the scores be presented to council members, on the excuse that he was going to investigate the anonymous petition. Of course members objected and sensing that he would not have his way, he allegedly decided to unilaterally announce the adjournment of the special meeting with no decision reached by the council.
   Not long, some groups including the University of Maiduguri Alumni Association, Concerned Stakeholders and Concerned Professionals of Borno State petitioned President Goodluck alleging corruption and forgery in the selection process.
  In their petition to the minister, signed by one Prof. Shettima Dala, the UNIMAID Alumni Association alleged that bribery, perjury and corruption have tainted the performance of the council. They further alleged that the Federal Government’s nominees on the council had compromised their positions and as such, were promoting the emergence of a candidate with questionable credentials.
   The association therefore, demanded for a transparent selection process; immediate disqualification of one of the candidates “involved in illegal promotion and forgery,” in the petition, which was addressed to Jonathan.
  On their part, the Concerned Stakeholders of Borno State called for the “prosecution of the compromised members of the governing council.” Their real intentions were, however, unfolded as they both made a case for Marte, the first runner up, who they described as “the most qualified candidate for the position.”
   Njodi, who obviously was the target of the groups denied the allegations of forgery and sundry crimes leveled against him by the groups, saying that the groups were doing that as a ploy to sully his image and question his high scores.
   But at the resumption of the special council meeting at the same venue in Abuja on May 6, the report of the board was presented and adopted, but not without Marguba coming up with a written petition on alleged irregularity against Njodi in his elevation from reader to professor.
  Even though most council members were not convinced about the authenticity of the documents, a very reliable source confided in The Guardian that they decided to give it the benefit of the doubt, in order to have a credible selection process that would not be faulted anywhere.
  Consequently, council members resolved to constitute a special panel to investigate the allegations, and it was to submit its findings on May 20th, 2014. Members of the panel were Alhaji Abubakar Adamu Waziri, Prof. Alhaji Maina Gimba, Dr. Ahmadu Brono and Mrs. O. E. Akamo.
  But while the panel was investigating the allegations at the university, Marguba called them to say that he had received a letter that the police was also investigating the same matter as such they should stop the process. Waziri who chaired the investigation panel declined insisting that the police could go ahead with their investigations, as theirs was an internal thing.
  Besides, he insisted the chairman had no powers to stop the work of an investigative committee set up by the council.
 A document obtained by The Guardian on some of the resolutions of the May 20th special council meeting informed that, “The Report of the council committee found out that all allegations made against Prof. Njodi were false and baseless. Council therefore, cleared Prof. Njodi of all the allegations against him.”
   However, in spite of Njodi’s clearance by the council, Marguba strangely tried to scuttle the meeting again, insisting that investigation was inconclusive as the police was still investigating Njodi.
  But the outgoing VC, on receipt of his own copy of the police letter, sought legal opinion from the university’s external solicitors, who said the police investigation should not affect the council’s work, and that the police could take whatever course they liked latter, but that council had the powers to do what they were doing.
  Though Daura made this legal advice available to the relevant authorities, Marguba told members that he would not participate in the special meeting for the conclusion of the appointment of vice chancellor because of the police investigation. He said the council could go ahead, but without him. He then left the meeting, despite pleas from members urging him to stay and conclude the process.
  In view of the above, Council, in accordance with the University of Maiduguri decree No 83 of September 28, 1979, Schedule 3, Article 6 (as amended), having formed a quorum, and mindful of its responsibility decided to act in accordance with the laid down rules and regulations by nominating a chairman in the person of Oparadike to serve as acting chairman and continue with the meeting.
  The council relying on powers conferred on it by Decree 11 of 1993 as amended by the University Miscellaneous Act (2003), after having cleared Prof. Njodi of all allegations, went ahead to confirm his appointment with effect from June 3, 2014, after which Marguba went ahead to issue a statement dissociating himself from the outcome of the special meeting and describing the selection by some members of the council as “totally wrong and unacceptable.”
 According to Marguba, he and some members of the council had objected to the consideration of the report of the selection board, which had recommended the appointment of Prof. Njodi as VC, due to the police investigation and the alleged absence of the inputs of the school’s registrar.
  He noted that the Borno State Police Command had written to him, demanding that the process of selecting a new VC be halted as it was investigating allegations of illegal promotions of Njodi, adding, “As a law-abiding citizen, I had no option but to comply with the police order and instructed an earlier set up by the council to investigate the allegation to stay action in the interest of peace and tranquility.
 “However, the panel refused to comply with my directive and went ahead with their activities and submitted their report to the council’s special meeting, which held on May 20, 2014,” adding that despite his objection and walk out on the meeting on that day, other members of the council proceeded to announce that Prof. Njodi had been selected as the VC for UNIMAID.
  Marguba in his statement added that, “If the police investigations were not completed before the end of Daura’s tenure, an acting vice chancellor would be appointed for the university.”
  However, the ministerial order penultimate weekend effectively annulled that position hence Njodi’s confirmation.
  The university on its part quickly denounced Narguba insisting that he had no powers to unilaterally annul the decision of the council in respect of the May 20 selection of Prof. Njodi as the new VC, which was in line with extant laws, regulations and due process of the university.
  A statement by the University’s spokesman, Mr. Ahmed Mohammed said the constitution and functions of the university and its constituent bodies, including the Governing Council, were contained in the University of Maiduguri Act CAP U10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
   He said the clarification had become necessary to clear the air on the purported unilateral cancellation of the appointment of Prof. Njodi as the new Vice Chancellor of the university as approved by the Governing Council at its Special meeting on May 20, 2014 by the Pro-Chancellor.