Sacked UNIZIK VC’s professorship fraudulently obtained, says Zamfara varsity

The Federal University Gusau (FUGUS) in Zamfara state says Bernard Odoh, former vice-chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) in Anambra, fraudulently obtained his professorship.

BACKGROUND

On Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu dissolved UNIZIK’s governing council and sacked the institution’s vice-chancellor and registrar.

Odoh was described as “unqualified” for the role of vice-chancellor of the university, in a statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy.

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

“After the controversial appointment, the Federal Government stepped in to address tensions between the university’s Senate and the governing council of the 33-year-old institution.

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

ODOH FIGHTS BACK

However, in an interview with Arise Television on Thursday, Odoh said the president erred by firing him.

He added that since his appointment as vice-chancellor was not made through a press release, he cannot be removed through one.

The embattled don said he was qualified for the position of vice-chancellor of UNIZIK ab initio. He added that his appointment followed due process.

Odoh said the case against his appointment is before a federal high court and industrial courts.

He added that Tinubu and Tunji Alausa, education minister, should have waited for the verdict of the courts before booting him out.

Odoh said by leaving the university without a vice-chancellor, governing council and registrar, Tinubu has fomented crisis in UNIZIK.

The embattled university don added that two of the assessors, and a registrar from FUGUS who deposed to an affidavit on his professorship, are still alive and can back his claims.

‘PRODUCTS OF ADMINISTRATIVE FRAUD’

In a statement on Thursday, Yakubu Anivbassa, FUGUS registrar, said the documents referenced by Odoh were “products of administrative fraud”.

The FUGUS management said Odoh “was never a staff member of the university” and his claims are “tissues of lies and misinformation”.

“The Federal University Gusau hereby states in clear and unambiguous terms that the so called letters of offer of tenure of appointment as Professor and confirmation of promotion to the post of Professor, dated 30th April 2015 and 12th November 2015, being paraded by Dr Bernard Odoh are null and void,” the statement reads.

“The documents being paraded by Dr. Odoh Bernard Ifeanyi and purported to be certified true copies hurriedly endorsed by Ibrahim Bawa Kaura, former Registrar of the Federal University, dated November 8, 2024, six solid years after the latter left the services of the Federal University Gusau, are products of administrative fraud orchestrated by Dr. Odoh.

“Dr Odoh working in cahoots with the former Vice Chancellor of the University and the Registrar, as there is no official record of Dr. Odoh’s employment in the custody of the University.

“Further proof of the desperation to perpetuate such illegality is the impersonation and usurpation of the duties of the current Registrar of the University by the former Registrar, Ibrahim Bawa Kaura, who procured a fake stamp to certify Dr. Odoh’s equally fake employment documents as true copies on November 8, 2024, six years after his disengagement from the university.

“Dr. Odoh Bernard Ifeanyi is not and has never been a tenure staff of the university, let alone being confirmed as a professor by the institution.

“Whatever claim to the contrary by Dr. Odoh is nothing but the antics of a drowning man who is hell-bent on using the good name of the Federal University Gusau, to give vent to his desperate ambition to become the Vice Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, through subterfuge.”

The registrar said certification of public documents is guided by the Evidence Act 2011, adding that requirements include payment of fees and a certified true copy.

Anivbassa added that the document must be sealed, dated and signed by the officer responsible for issuing the document with his name and title of his office.

“A careful perusal of the above requirements and their juxtaposition against the certification of Dr. Odoh’s documents by Ibrahim Bawa Kaura, clearly shows that the so called certified true copies fell short of the provisions of Section 104 of the Evidence Act, 2011 and are therefore, not legally tenable,” he said.

Anivbassa said Bawa, having left FUGUS as a registrar in 2018, has “no locus” to certify university documents.

“Therefore, the so-called certified true copies of Dr. Odoh’s documents relating to his alleged employment as endorsed by Ibrahim Bawa Kaura on November 8, 2024, are illegal, criminal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever,” the statement added.