Dr. Sam Egwu, at various times Governor of Ebonyi State and Minister of Education, has been described as a tribalist who doesn’t like Bini people.

Edo South Senator Ehigie Uzamere made the allegation in Benin City while explaining the complicated processes that led to the appointment of University of Benin (UNIBEN) immediate Past Vice Chancellor, Professor Osayuki Oshodin, in 2009.

Before Oshodin’s appointment, there had been agitation for a Bini man to be made Vice Chancellor given that no Bini man had ever been VC of UNIBEN despite Benin being a Bini city.

Uzamere disclosed that in the build-up to the appointment of a substantive Vice Chancellor for UNIBEN, he had gone to Ebonyi with former Edo State Governor Lucky Igbinedion to the then Minister of Education Sam Egwu to try to convince him of the need to appoint a Bini man as Vice Chancellor. Uzamere said he was shocked by the response of the then minister, which bordered on tribalism against Bini people.

The Senator said in a recent ITV Benin Pidgin English programme: “Egwu told us pointblank that he doesn’t like Bini people. He said Binis dress like women in their traditional outfits, and argued that the institution (UNIBEN) was not for Bini people. At that point I told Lucky (Igbinedion) to Egwu’s hearing, ‘let’s go; this man is a useless man’.”

Uzamere revealed that he took the matter to then President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who he said was sympathetic and played a key part in the eventual emergence of Professor Oshodin as substantive Vice Chancellor of UNIBEN.

•Photo shows Senator Uzamere.