Tinubu sacks UNIZIK VC, Governing Council over controversial appointments

President Bola Tinubu has sacked the newly appointed Vice-chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (NAU), Bernard Odoh.

NAU, a federal university in Anambra State, is popularly known as UNIZIK.

Mt Tinubu also dissolved the university’s Governing Council led by Greg Mbadiwe.

Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to Mr Tinubu on Information and Strategy, announced this in a statement on Wednesday.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier exclusively reported that Mr Tinubu had approved the dissolution of the Governing Council over the controversial appointment of Mr Odoh as the vice-chancellor of the university.

Mr Odoh, a professor, emerged as the seventh substantive vice-chancellor of the university on 29 October.

The Mr Mbadiwe-led Governing Council had earlier appointed Rosemary Nwokike as the university’s Registrar.

Why Tinubu sacked Mr Odoh, Governing Council

Mr Onanuga in the Wednesday statement also announced that Mr Tinubu also ordered the sack of Ms Nwokike, a lawyer, as the university’s registrar.

“The sacking of the governing council and officials followed reports that the council illegally appointed an unqualified vice-chancellor without following due process,” Mr Onanuga said.

“After the controversial appointment, the federal government stepped in to address tensions between the university’s Senate and the Governing Council of the 23-year-old institution,” he added.

The special adviser said the federal government has expressed “concern over the council’s apparent disregard for the university’s governing laws in its selection process.”

More sacking

Mr Onanuga also announced that Mr Tinubu approved the removal of Ohieku Salami as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairperson of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Health Sciences in Otukpo, Benue State.

“The decision followed Salami’s illegal actions, including suspending the Vice-Chancellor without following the prescribed procedures,” he said.

The presidential adviser explained that despite a call by the Federal Ministry of Education for the “unlawful suspension” to be revoked, Mr Salami, an engineer, refused to comply.

“Instead, he resorted to abusive and threatening behaviour towards the ministry’s directors, including the permanent secretary,” he said.

Mr Onanuga pointed out that the federal government has reiterated that the primary responsibility of university councils is to ensure the smooth operation of university activities in accordance with the act establishing each university.

He said President Tinubu has warned councils not to create “distractions in their universities” as his government was focused on improving the country’s education standards.

Background on UNIZIK crisis

Since his emergence as vice-chancellor, Mr Odoh’s academic profile and his appointment has become a subject of controversy.

For instance, Mr Odoh had, in his profile published on the university’s website, indicated that he served as a visiting professor at the Federal University, Gusau (FUGUS), Zamfara State between July 2015 and October 2017.

But both FUGUS and the university’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), refuted Mr Odoh’s claims in separate letters in response to enquiries about his academic profile.

Meanwhile, before Mr Odoh’s emergence as vice-chancellor, the UNIZIK chapter of the ASUU and the institution’s chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria had alleged irregularities in both the announcement of vacancy and recruitment process.

Three days after Mr Odoh’s emergence, the Federal Ministry of Education, through a memo dated 1 November 2024, nullified the appointment, accusing the university’s Governing Council led by Greg Mbadiwe of making the appointment “without representatives of the ministry, the internal council members and other stakeholders.”

But the university, in a letter issued the same day by its Registrar and Secretary to Council, R.I. Nwokike, insisted that they “adhered strictly to a valid judgement from a competent court, which directed the council to exercise its statutory authority in appointing the vice-chancellor.”

Also, Mr Odoh, in his first public response last Friday, said the education ministry lacks the power to nullify his appointment as the university’s vice-chancellor.

During a press conference at GeoGold Hotel in Awka, the disputed vice-chancellor, through his spokesperson, Charles Otu, claimed he was appointed as visiting professor at FUGUS in 2014, but was later promoted to the rank of full professor of applied geophysics at the institution in 2015.

On Monday, ASUU said Mr Odoh’s appointment as vice-chancellor and Rosemary Nwokike as registrar of the university was illegal and a mockery of the university system.

The union, in a statement by its National President, Emmanuel Osoedeke, a professor, said the appointments violated all known procedures from advertisement, search process, and shortlisting to selection processes.