President Bola Tinubu has dissolved the Governing Council of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka for appointing “an unqualified vice-chancellor” Prof. Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh.
The Governing Council was headed by Ambassador Greg Ozumba Mbadiwe
The president also removed the new Vice-Chancellor and the new registrar of the institution Mrs. Rosemary Ifoema Nwokike because their emergence didn’t follow due process
A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, which was issued today also stated that dissolution of the governing council also affects other five council members, including Augustine Onyedebelu, Hafiz Oladejo, Funsho Oyeneyin, and Amioleran Osahon.
Popularly called UNIZIK, the Anambra-based federal institution has been engulfed in internal crisis following the appointment of Prof. Bernard Odoh in September. He assumed office on October 29, 2024.
His selection was rejected by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, UNIZIK branch since Odoh, a former governorship candidate in Ebonyi, assumed office on October 29 this year.
“The sacking of the governing council and officials followed reports that the council illegally appointed an unqualified vice-chancellor without following due process,” Onanuga said.
Tinubu said the Ambassador Greg Ozumba Mbadiwe-led council’s disregard for the university’s governing laws in its selection process was worrisome and distracted the institution from its core goals of academic excellence.
An academic and politician
Odoh is a politician who tried several times to become the governor of Ebonyi State. He changed political party more than three times since joining politics in 2015.
He first contested to become a Senator for Ebonyi Central senatorial district under the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the 2015 general election, but lost to a PDP candidate.
He was subsequently appointed by Governor David Umahi as the Secretary to Ebonyi State Government between May 2015 and April 2018.
Ahead of 2019 elections, he resigned from PDP-led government in the state to join and contest under All Progressive Congress (APC), but lost in the primaries.
As the 2023 election was approaching, he again defected from APC to APGA, winning the APGA’s gubernatorial ticket, but lost to the candidate of APC Francis Ogbonna Erishi Nwifuru, the incumbent governor of Ebonyi.
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