‘You have no power to fire me,’ says sacked UNIZIK VC

Bernard Odoh has spoken on his removal from office as the vice-chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (NAU) in Anambra State.

NAU, a federal university in the South-eastern state, is popularly known as UNIZIK.

Mr Odoh, a professor, had emerged as the seventh substantive vice-chancellor of the university on 29 October.

However, his appointment, recruitment processes and academic profile later became subjects of controversies which angered academic bodies and the federal government.

President Bola Tinubu sacked Mr Odoh as the university’s vice-chancellor.

Mr Tinubu also dissolved the university’s Governing Council for “illegally” appointing “an unqualified vice-chancellor without following due process.”

Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser to Mr Tinubu on Information and Strategy, announced the developments in a statement on Wednesday.

Apart from Mr Onanuga, Boriowo Folasade, the director of the Federal Ministry of Education’s press and public relations unit, also announced the sacking of the vice-chancellor and the dissolution of the institution’s Governing Council in a separate statement on Wednesday.

‘You’re working for fifth columnists’
Reacting in a statement later on Wednesday by his spokesperson, Charles Otu, Mr Odoh argued that the ministry has no power to sack him as vice-chancellor of the university.

He suggested that Mr Tinubu did not authorise his removal and the dissolution of the Governing Council.

“Already, the greatest question mark on the integrity of the purported letter is the fact that it never emanated from the President or Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation who issued the council members with appointment letters.

“It was rather strangely endorsed, not by a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, perhaps on behalf of the Honourable Minister, but by a Public Relations Director. This obviously casts strong doubts on the genuineness and intents of the said letter,” he stated.

The university professor was replying to the press statement from the education ministry even as Mr Onanuga, the special adviser to Mr Tinubu on Information and Strategy, also issued a similar statement.

Mr Odoh claimed that the ministry was engaging in an alleged usurpation of powers, given that only President Tinubu has the power to sack him or dissolve the Governing Council.

He stressed that it was improper for the ministry to accuse the Governing Council of breaching procedures and lawful directives without formally inviting them for questioning regarding the appointment of the vice-chancellor.

He contended that despite a “mountain of evidence,” the ministry had continued to insist that the “council unilaterally appointed” him as the vice-chancellor of the institution.

Mr Odoh also said some lawsuits challenging his emergence as vice-chancellor were still pending at the National Industrial Court in Awka and that the ministry announced his sack even when the court was yet to deliver its judgement.

“Why is the ministry now desperately trying to also usurp the powers of the courts of competent jurisdictions in our land before whom are multiple lawsuits on this matter by running into a conclusion without evidence?

“Even when the vice-chancellor has made his academic credentials public, why is the ministry still referring to him as ‘unqualified?’” he said.

He stressed that contrary to the ministry’s claim, there had not been any crisis in the university.

“It can even be safe to conclude that the Ministry, ostensibly working for some fifth columnists, may want to ignite or spark crises with its highly dictatorial treatise,” he said.

‘You violated the university’s Act’
Mr Odoh accused the education ministry of violating the extant provisions of the University’s Act by announcing his removal for a second time.

“Top among the many other flaws in the purported ‘sack letter’ is the fact that even the Council’s Chairman, who was duly appointed with a letter, has not been officially or formally communicated about this purported dissolution,” he said.

The sacked vice-chancellor suggested that despite his removal, he would not vacate office until the court ruled otherwise.

“We would wish to maintain that hence parties have remained in court, let the issues be expeditiously tested and established by the relevant provisions of our laws,” he said.

“The general public and particularly members of the university community are advised to go about their lawful and legitimate businesses as they have always maintained.”

Background on the sack of the VC, Governing Council
Since he emerged as vice-chancellor, Mr Odoh’s academic profile and his appointment have become subjects of controversy.

For instance, Mr Odoh’s profile published on the university’s website indicated that he served as a visiting professor at the Federal University, Gusau (FUGUS), Zamfara State, between July 2015 and October 2017.

However, both FUGUS and the university’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) refuted Mr Odoh’s claims in separate letters in response to enquiries about his academic profile.

Meanwhile, before Mr Odoh emerged as the vice-chancellor, the UNIZIK’s chapter of the ASUU and the institution’s chapter of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria had alleged irregularities in both the announcement of the vacancy and recruitment process.

Three days after Mr Odoh’s emergence, the Federal Ministry of Education, through a memo dated 1 November 2024, nullified the appointment, accusing the university’s Governing Council led by Greg Mbadiwe of making the appointment “without representatives of the ministry, the internal council members and other stakeholders.”

But the university, in a letter issued the same day by its Registrar and Secretary to Council, R.I. Nwokike, insisted that they “adhered strictly to a valid judgement from a competent court, which directed the council to exercise its statutory authority in appointing the vice-chancellor.”

Also, Mr Odoh, in his first public response last Friday, said the education ministry lacks the power to nullify his appointment as the university’s vice-chancellor.

During a press conference in Awka, the disputed vice-chancellor, through his spokesperson, Charles Otu, claimed he was appointed as a visiting professor at FUGUS in 2014 but was later promoted to the rank of full professor of applied geophysics at the institution in 2015.

On Monday, ASUU said Mr Odoh’s appointment as vice-chancellor and Rosemary Nwokike as registrar of the university was illegal and a mockery of the university system.

The union, in a statement by its National President, Emmanuel Osoedeke, a professor, said the appointments violated all known procedures from advertisement, search process, and shortlisting to selection processes.