Abia lawmakers are mounting pressure on the federal authorities to quash the appointment of Francis Otunta, a Professor of Mathematics, as the substantive Vice Chancellor of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU). The Abia lawmakers are insisting that an indigene of the state should appointed into the coveted position.

The Abia State House of Assembly is angry that none of the four candidates from the state who applied to become the next Vice Chancellor of MOUAU was found suitable for the position, describing the selection process which produced Otunta as flawed and should therefore, be set aside.

Crying marginalisation, the House has already forwarded its Resolution and Memorandum on the matter to the Federal Government, detailing why an Abian should occupy the seat which would become vacant by March 2016 when the incumbent Vice Chancellor, Prof. Hilary Edeoga, would vacate office.

During its sitting on December 17, 2015, the Chairman of the House Committee on Education, Hon. Chidiebere Thomas-Nkoro (Obingwa East State Constituency), brought the issue as a matter of urgent public importance on the floor of the House. He pointed out that by the appointment of Otunta, Abia has been marginalised as her indigenes have been denied the opportunity of occupying the Vice Chancellorship position in the past 10 years.

Thomas-Nkoro saw the latest appointment of a new substantive VC for the specialised federal-owned institution “as a continued plot to deny Abians the opportunity to produce the next substantive Vice Chancellor of the institution by the selection committee,” which, he alleged, was manipulated by the incumbent Vice Chancellor.

The lawmaker prayed that “the flawed selection process which purportedly produced one Prof. Francis Otunta, an indigene of Ebonyi State from the University of Benin, be set aside.”

He also prayed that “the incumbent VC, Prof. Hillary Edeoga, and the leadership of the Governing Council of the university be disqualified from participating in any further process leading to the appointment of a substantive VC for MOUAU for obvious display of bias, discrimination and favouritism,” among others.

On his part, Hon. Chikwendu Kalu (Isiala Ngwa South State Constituency) argued that the selection process negated the provision of Section 14 sub-section 3 of the 1999 Constitution which dwelt on Federal Character principle. The matter was unanimously supported by members.

Weighing in, the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike, said: “A situation where no professor from Abia is deemed qualified to be appointed as VC in any of the 40 federal universities in the country, in addition to the one situated in the state, was unacceptable.” He stressed that the state government would no longer keep silent on the continued act of marginalisation of the state in such matters.

The House, therefore, mandated its Committee on Education to immediately take the issue to the Federal Government via a Panel of Enquiry, which was at the institution, at that material time, entertaining petitions from some aggrieved staff against the Vice Chancellor “for them to relate same to the Federal Government for urgent step to reverse the trend.”

The committee quickly rushed to the panel and handed in the Assembly’s resolution and memorandum on the selection process of a substantive VC for MOUAU.

Handing over the resolution and the Memorandum to the chairman of the panel, Prof. Popoola, Thomas-Nkoro, said it was the collective decision of the House and entire Abians that the injustice being meted to the host of the MOUAU be corrected in the appointment of VC as obtained in other federal universities across the country.

Chikwendu Kalu and Taribo Paul (Ukwa East) also members of the committee who accompanied Thomas-Nkoro, in their contributions, harped on the need for the selection committee to take into consideration, the federal character principle and regretted that since the inception of the school 23 years ago, the state has only produce one Vice Chancellor of the University.

Investigations by News Express showed that only Ebonyi State, out of the five states that constitute the catchment area of MOUAU, was yet to produce a Vice Chancellor of the institution.

Obviously reacting to criticisms that trailed the appointment of Prof. Otunta, the Pro- Chancellor and Chairman of MOUAU Governing Council, Prof. Anya Oko Anya, an indigene of Abia State, used the occasion of the 7th convocation ceremony of the school on Saturday, November 28, 2015, to give a detailed account of how the new VC emerged.

Prof. Anya said it was the hope of the MOUAU community that an internal candidate would emerge to succeed Edeoga but explained that the four candidates who applied did not have First Class Honours Degrees and failed to score more than 65 per cent in the interview.

His words: “There were 32 applicants, but only 17 survived the rigorous short-listing requirements. Although the short-listing is expected to be done by the Selection Board, the Pro-Chancellor, as chairman, preferred that this should be done transparently and should involve the entire Council. Thereafter, the members of the Selection Board did the actual job of scoring the candidates according to the criteria in the Guidelines (for appointment of Vice Chancellors and Rectors for Federal Universities and Polytechnics).

“In this effort, each member of the Selection Board had to defend his score on each of the candidates and on each of the criteria. It was after this rigorous process that the Selection Board sent three names as required by the Guidelines to the Council. The top three scored 79 per cent, 76 per cent and 67 per cent.

“It is pertinent to note that it had been the hope of the Council that, in the interest of continuity, one of the internal candidates would have emerged. However, the odds were high. While four of the external candidates hold First Class Honours Degrees in their various disciplines, all the four internal candidates, without exception, hold Second Class (Lower Division) Honours Degree and none scored above 65 per cent.

“I have given this extensive explanation because all sorts of false and tendentious claims have been made through text messages and on the internet, I have been told. In reaction, to these false and tendentious claims, highly respectable senior citizens of Abia State have been misled into less than dignified position on this matter.”

Prof. Anya added: “The academic leader of our university must be one who can inspire our students and professors that he leads. Abia State deserves no less. We must prepare our staff and students, the youths of Abia and the aspiring intellectuals of God’s Own state, the ‘A’ State. We must not lower the bar to meet individual aspirations or drop the ball in the pursuit of less than excellent and noble goals.”

Maintaining that “there can only be one Vice Chancellor at a time who must be an outstanding leader of the team, particularly, the professoriate,” Anya said: “We must always aim high in this university.”

Continuing, he said: “The demands for the academic and administrative leader of such a university (as MOUAU) must be on the basis of excellent academic and intellectual pedigree and track record of exceptional performance.

“I am, therefore, happy that the Governing Council, with the active cooperation and involvement of the Senate has found and appointed a new Vice Chancellor for this university with effect from 1st day of March, 2016. He is an outstanding Professor who made First Class Honours at the foundation of his academic career.”

Prof. Anya made it clear that representatives of the Federal Ministry of Education and Federal Character Commission were part of the selection process.

•Photo shows Abia Speaker, Rt. Hon. Martins Azubuike.