The management has directed that henceforth, on no account should any lecturer employed either on part-time or full-time basis delegate his teaching responsibilities.
Whoever defaults shall face disciplinary action from management.
During its regular meeting Monday, last week, management took the decision to check the practice, which was becoming rampant.
At the meeting, the management also reiterated its ban on rearing of domestic animals within the campus.
Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun yesterday said any attempt to frustrate the registration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would fail because the new party belongs to all Nigerians.
He said prominent members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have indicated interest to join the party, adding that APC’s membership would cut across ethnic and regional divides.
The governor spoke with reporters after delivering a lecture at the Lagos Business School (LBS) (Pan-African University), Lagos.
He spoke on the topic: “A voyage powered by conviction”.
The lecture was the fourth edition of the “Project What Next”, a mentoring programme organised by MBA students.
Amosun said the acronym of the African Peoples Congress was not genuine.
He said: “Any other APC apart from the All Progressives Congress is a counterfeit. You know who started the real APC. It is not 10 governors. We have about 20 governors.
“As we speak about 11 or 12 governors have signed into it. It is not just going to be about the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN); it is a national thing. It will enjoy national spread.
“The All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) are there. Some PDP members would join us. They have indicated interest to join us and I am sure they will.
“APC is a Nigerian party. It is not a regional party. It is for everybody.”
Amosun said APC was not just formed to wrest power from the PDP, but to provide true leadership.
He warned that the new party must be internally democratic to win the people’s confidence.
The governor said: “In any case, what do we want to achieve? It is to change the way we do things. We know Nigeria can be better than it is now. The problem is with the leadership. That is why we said we must gather ourselves together.
“There must be internal democracy, if we want Nigerians to believe in what we are doing. They must know that it is whoever wins that you will present, even in our primaries.”
Addressing LBS students, the governor recalled his childhood in a polygamous home, with his father’s 11 wives.
He said he combined his tertiary education with business as a part-time trader in clothes and electronics before he became a chartered accountant and ventured into politics.
Amosun said: “I have shared these experiences to demonstrate that if we look carefully, beneath every challenge is an opportunity.
“If you require further proof of opportunities disguised as challenges, just remember that I come from a nuclear family of 41 members: One father, 11 wives and 29 children.”
He urged professionals to get involved in politics, saying they can no longer stand aside and watch uninformed people make wrong decisions for Nigerians.
The governor identified inept leadership, weak infrastructure, corruption, imperfect political structure, weak institutions, a warped value system and bad followership as Nigeria’s biggest challenges.
He said change must begin with individuals.
Amosun said: “Leadership is about vision and mission, big or small. Though our sphere of concern will always be larger than our sphere of influence, everyone of us has a responsibility to provide leadership based on strong ethical underpinnings wherever we are.”
During a question-and-answer session, Amosun explained why governors prefer the sharing of the excess crude revenue to saving it in the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) as canvassed by the Federal Government.
He said this is because across the 36 states in the country, there are several developmental challenges waiting to be confronted.
Amosun said governors believe it does not make sense to save the money when it could be used to address the developmental issues affecting the people.
He said: “SWF is good, but if you have all this deficit and you say you want to have the fund there, then one will begin to query what the money is being used for. We believe you should not have money and watch your people suffer.”
Amosun said the bane of politics in the country is that a lot of the politicians do not have visible means of livelihood outside politics, hence the desire to grab as much as they can when they find themselves in public office.
Also yesterday, the Lagos State chapter of the ACN condemned the alleged efforts of the PDP to frustrate APC’s registration.
It accused PDP of trying to truncate the country’s democracy and urged Nigerians to be wary of it.
With a tinge of regret in his voice, Mr. Nwokorie Samuel Chinedu, the lawyer who filed the application with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the registration of the controversial African Peoples Congress (APC), has spoken of his role in the row.
Nwokorie, who spoke with our correspondent from his hideout in Abuja Wednesday night, said he was hired by Ugochinyere Ikenga sometime in February to file the application – an action which has kept leaders of merging parties battling to defend their emerging party’s identity.
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congres for Progressive Change (CPC) have merged to form the All Progressives Party (APC). The proxy “APC” is believed to be an attempt to throw a spanner in the works for the real APC.
According to the lawyer, Ikenga paid him N30, 000 before he filed the papers. The “client” paid him N50, 000 later and gave him a Samsung Galaxy phone after the job had been done.
Nwokorie said he took the brief as a young lawyer eager to earn a living without any inkling of what Ikenga had in mind. He added that Ikenga told him that he was acting on behalf of the promoters of the party.
His words: “Ugochinyere Ikenga approached me sometime in February 2013 to put in an application for the registration of a political party by name African Peoples Congress.
“He paid me an initial sum of N30,000 and later added another N50,000 and a Samsung Galaxy phone after I had filed the papers, with a promise that he was going to settle me after the party must have been registered.
“I filed the application in the honest belief that it was just another political party because even the application I entered at INEC only bears the name African Peoples Congress. The acronym APC was not included in the application.
“So there was no way I could have visualize, whether or not there was an ulterior motive in the registration of that political party. I was, however, surprised to see my name all over the newspapers, including the a sample of the application letter I wrote to INEC.
“I wish to let Nigerians know that I am not a politician in anyway whatsoever. I regret the issues at hand and the dimension the entire thing is taking.”
Asked to explain the discrepancy in the office address in the application and his real address, Nwokorie said the address was correct.
According to him, a friend of his works in one of the two law chambers in the address.
“I used the address because a friend of mine (a lawyer) works in one of the two chambers. But that friend does not wish to be dragged into this matter because of the uproar.
“Legal World Chambers with which I filed the application is duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). I personally registered the firm. But if anyone has any doubts, let them check it out with the CAC.
“Some people are even doubting whether I am a lawyer or not. I challenge them to go to the Supreme Court and check the roll to see whether or not my name is there.”
Nwokorie said he did his first degree programme at Buea University in Cameroun. He did NYSC in Abuja in 2005/2006 after which he proceeded to the University of Lagos (UNILAG) where he got a Master’s degree in International Law and Diplomacy.
According to him, he attended the Law School, Bwari, Abuja and was called to the Bar on February 14, 2011.
The obviously-frightened Nwokorie said he was forced to switch off his phones because he was bombarded with calls.
“I am not happy about the unfolding event because I did not bargain for it, especially as I have been receiving calls from unknown persons and my present boss, whose identity I would not want to reveal for now, is not happy with me. My family is also worried and apprehensive about the entire thing,” Nwokorie said.
Meanwhile, Ikenga has kept telling Nwokorie that he should not bother himself about the heat generated by the action, assuring him that the sponsors of the application would handle the matter.
Said the lawyer: “He keeps telling me not to worry, that I should be a man and that he would handle the matter. He also said that the real owners of the party would soon be revealed to Nigerians.
“Once again, I want to tell Nigerians that I just took a brief as a young lawyer and it ended there. I don’t know the sponsors of the party. The only person I know is Ugochinyere Ikenga, who gave me the brief.
“I got to know Ikenga through a friend. I thought it wise to come out and tell Nigerians the entire story because I keep receiving calls all-day through. My major concern now is my letter head, which is in the custody of INEC.
“My family has asked me to hands off the matter, which is the reason I have come out in the open,” Nwokorie stated.
When our correspondent called Ikenga on his telephone number provided by Nwokorie, he promised to call our correspondent back and cut the line off. He never did.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not bound to register the emergency African Peoples Congress to spite the opposition parties from merging as All Progressives Congress (APC), it was learnt yesterday.
Besides, said a source, INEC has so far received only a letter of intent from the emergency group.
The letter of intent was reportedly submitted at the INEC office without any interaction with the commission’s officials.
According to a source, the African Peoples Congress rushed to INEC last week with a letter of intent to be registered as a party.
The source added: “The African Peoples Congress submitted only a mere letter of intent last week without requisite information. Legally, we are expected to look into the application within 30 days and, administratively, we ought to determine the fate of the group within 90 days.
“So far, we have got the letter of intent without requisite information, like the list of representatives of the party, its board of trustees, the address of its headquarters in Abuja and the list of its offices in the 36 states of the Federation.
“As I am talking to you, no one in INEC knows the promoters of the African Peoples Congress. They have not supplied any tangible information to show that they are serious.
“We hope that the group will make these information available as soon as possible. Or else, the electoral commission might see the group as playing to the gallery.”
Asked how the application was received, the source added: “A lawyer just walked in and submitted the letter of intent.
“As a commission, we cannot shut our doors to any group seeking to register as a political party.”
The source clarified that by virtue of Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution and Section 78 of the Electoral Act, INEC is not bound to register the emergency African Peoples Congress.
“Although we are to entertain applications for registration of parties on the basis of first come, first served, we are not bound to register All Peoples Congress, except all conditions are met as contained in Section 78 of the Electoral Act.
The section reads: “A political association that complies with the provision of the constitution and this Act for the purposes of registration shall be registered as a political party, provided that such application for registration as a political party shall be duly submitted to the Commission not later than six months before a general election.
“The Commission shall, on receipt of the documents in fulfillment of the conditions stipulated by the Constitution, immediately issue the applicant with a letter of acknowledgement stating that all the necessary documents have been submitted to the Commission.
“If the association has not fulfilled all the conditions under the section, the Commission shall within 30 days from the receipt of its application notify the association in writing, stating the reasons for non-registration.
“A political association that meets the conditions stipulated in the constitution and this Act shall be registered by the Commission as a political party within 30 days from the date of receipt of the application, and if after the 30 days such association is not registered by the Commission unless the Commission informs the association to the contrary, it shall be deemed to have been registered.
“An association which, through the submission of false or misleading information pursuant to the provisions of this section, procures a certificate of registration, shall have such certificate cancelled.
“An application for registration as a political party shall not be processed, unless there is evidence of payment of administrative fee as may be fixed from time to time by the Commission.
“The Commission shall have power to deregister political parties on the following grounds; breach of any of the requirement for registration and for failure to win a seat in the National or State Assembly election.”