The Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Gusau (FUGUS), Zamfara State, Professor Mu’azu Abubakar, has revealed that the embattled and sacked Vice-Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh, was neither employed by FUGUS nor promoted to the rank of full professor.
Prof. Abubakar made this revelation on Thursday night, November 21, 2024, while addressing the newsmen in Gusau to refute Odoh’s claims.
The FUGUS VC explained that there is no record showing that the dismissed UNIZIK VC submitted any letter of acceptance for an offer of appointment, nor did he undergo the statutory documentation process. “Even though Dr. Odoh was engaged as a visiting linkage staff in the Department of Geology of the University, he dubiously enrolled himself into the institution’s payroll from July 2014 to August 2015,” Prof. Abubakar said.
The university further claimed that Odoh “neither assumed duty nor taught any course since the inception of the department in the 2014/2015 academic session.”
Background
In his academic record, Odoh, a scholar in geophysics, claimed to have served as a Visiting Professor of Geophysics at the Federal University Gusau between July 2015 and October 2017.
His appointment as Vice-Chancellor of UNIZIK was nullified by a presidential order on November 20, 2024, alongside the Governing Council of the institution and registrar. Odoh was appointed as the substantive VC of UNIZIK, but his qualifications were called into question.
While some members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UNIZIK branch, argued that Odoh was not qualified for the top academic administrative role due to not meeting the requirement of being a professor for at least 10 years, others stated that he never attained the rank of full professor in his academic career.
Odoh’s assumption of duty as VC on October 29, 2024, sparked crises that fractured the university community until President Bola Tinubu intervened, resulting in the dismissal of Odoh, the registrar, and the university council on Wednesday.
Federal University Gusau Disowns Odoh
Addressing journalists in the Zamfara State capital late Thursday night, Prof. Abubakar said, “The letters of offer of tenure of appointment as a professor and confirmation of promotion to the post of professor, dated 30th April 2015 and 12th November 2015, being paraded by Dr. Odoh are products of administrative fraud.”
He clarified that the purported “certified true copies” of the offer of appointment, hurriedly endorsed by the former Registrar of the university, Ibrahim Bawa Kaura, on November 8, 2024, were fraudulent.
Prof. Abubakar stated that Bawa Kaura left the university six years ago, describing the documents as “products of administrative fraud orchestrated by Dr. Odoh in cahoots with the former Vice-Chancellor and Registrar.”
During the media chat, the FUGUS VC consistently referred to Odoh as “Doctor” rather than “Professor,” emphasizing that Odoh’s claimed promotions were devoid of due process and “smacked of illegality.”
Former VC Implicated
But stressing his claims, Prof. Abubakar accused the former Vice-Chancellor of FUGUS and the former Registrar of facilitating Odoh’s “academic fraud” without adherence to extant rules and due process. He alleged that the former Registrar, Ibrahim Bawa Kaura, impersonated the current Registrar by procuring a fake stamp to certify Odoh’s equally fake documents as true copies on November 8, 2024, long after his disengagement from the university.
Prof. Ben Chuks Okeke was the Vice-Chancellor of Federal University Gusau at the time Odoh claimed to have been promoted to a full professor at the institution.
The FUGUS VC reiterated that “Dr. Odoh Bernard Ifeanyi is not, and has never been, a tenured staff of the Federal University Gusau, let alone confirmed as a professor by the institution.”
Prof. Abubakar admonished Odoh to desist from tarnishing the image of the Federal University Gusau with his fraudulent claims.
Prof. Abubakar, a professor of toxicology, assumed office as the third substantive Vice-Chancellor of FUGUS on February 10, 2021.
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