A coalition of 25 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has called on President Bola Tinubu through the Minister of Education to intervene in the ongoing controversy surrounding the selection of a Vice – Chancellor for the University of Abuja (UniAbuja).
The coalition under the aegis of Civil Society Coalition for Educational Development said this during the presentation of their report by one of its members, Dr. Wisdom Chinedu at the main gate of the University on Friday in Abuja.
It criticised recent protests by some professors at the university, calling their actions as “unnecessary and counterproductive.”
Chinedu, who spoke on behalf of the coalition, said the protest was part of a deliberate effort to undermine the reputation of the Acting Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Aisha Maikudi.
“We demand that President Bola Tinubu, through the Honourable Minister of Education, wade into the ensuing crisis and give needed protection for the acting Vice Chancellor who is obviously a victim of ethnic gang-up, political orchestration, and desperate power mongers in the University of Abuja. This will prevent any attempts to ridicule his efforts in promoting youth and women’s leadership,” the coalition said.
It said: “We wish to begin by expressing unequivocally, our frustration and disappointment over the recent protest by some professors from University of Abuja over the appointment of a substantive Vice Chancellor in the institution.
“It is an absurdity and a direct attack on due process, betrayal of their experience, and direct assault on the globally demanded agenda to have more women and youths in leadership.
“We observed with incontrovertible evidence that the entire protest is about an orchestrated plan to discredit Prof. Aisha Maikudi, the acting Vice Chancellor who had previously served as Deputy Vice Chancellor without any record of failure or non-qualification. The desperation to pull her down because she is a woman, a youth, and a northerner is antithetical to the development of education in Nigeria, especially at a time when global attention is on harnessing the numerous potentials of young people, especially women, to boost growth.
“In a long time, Nigerians have not seen professors engaging in such vexatious and demeaning absurdity, just to satisfy certain quarters that believe it is their exclusive right to decide what happens in the educational system. This act in academic circles is preposterous and requires to be nipped in the bud by ensuring that punishments are handed to those involved in the dance of shame.
“We demand that the Nigeria Police invite troublemakers, as outlined in our petition, to serve as a deterrent to others.”
It added: “The antecedents of leadership selection in the University of Abuja suggest that many have been victims of such satanic manipulation which eventually denied them their rights to be at the very top echelon of their careers. Hence, there is a need to step in and ensure a competent hand is not denied her opportunity to bring greatness to the institution.”
According to the coalition, allegations of southern exclusion from the selection committee were “baseless and politically motivated.”
“After looking dispassionately at the allegations, we discovered that the claim that southerners were not included in the selection committee was untrue and a desperate attempt to discredit the process, acting on the script of their sponsors,” the coalition added.
