University of Port Harcourt
Plot Of Anarchy In University Of Port Harcourt Uncovered
– 200 Professors Set to Reject Any Imposition of Vice Chancellor by some Politicians in the School.
– Senate Members Tell Ministry of Education to do the Right Thing To Avoid Mutiny In The School.
Not satisfied and deterred by the well orchestrated but failed coup d’etat of 29th May, 2020, where a certain professor with the support of some notable and powerful politicians, brazenly declared himself the 9th Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, which was backed with well attended congratulatory party in his (the professor’s) residence, the politicians and their cohorts have continued in their sworn determination to cause total anarchy in the University with a new plot to foist an acting Vice Chancellor on the University through the supervising Federal Ministry of Education.
This concluded plan accordingly to our sources, shall be unleashed between 22nd and 26th June 2020.
It is pertinent to inform our reading public that this strategy of foisting a Vice Chancellor (whether substantive or acting) on a public University by the Federal Ministry of Education was applied recently on the Federal University Dutsin-ma, Katsina State.
As we speak, the Vice Chancellor imposed on the Federal University Dutsin-ma by the Federal Ministry of Education without following due process of Council selection, has been sacked by a court of competent jurisdiction and the University is therefore, enmeshed in trouble.
One wonders why the Federal Ministry of Education will allow herself to be hoodwinked by politicians and few “illiterate” professors into causing continuous crisis in public universities. From the situation at Dutsin-ma, we can read and authoritatively predict a bigger embarrassment on the Federal Ministry of Education if this plot is hatched in University of Port Harcourt with more than 200 professors.
We are aware that a letter from the Federal Ministry of Education dated 29th May 2020 and signed by Arc. Sonny S.T. Ochono (Perm Sec, Federal Ministry of Education) directed the outgoing Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. N.E.S Lale, amongst others to “handover to the DVC (Administration) pending the appointment of a substantive Vice Chancellor”. According to our sources, the content of this letter was circulated to the University community. It is therefore stunning to hear of this new grand design to deliberately shut down the University of Port Harcourt (yes, we predict this) when the entire university is waiting for the appointment of the Council who will eventually select the Vice Chancellor. How is it that in less than one month of directing the VC to handover to the DVC Admin, the FME is planning a complete reversal of her directive? We are aware that the DVC Admin began acting as Vice Chancellor from 12th June, 2020 as directed by the Federal Ministry of Education. So, who are these plotting to plunge UniPort into years of disorder and insurrection? It is noteworthy that the University of Port Harcourt has her University Act and no individual (professor or politician) or even the Government is above the provisions of the Act.
Any attempt to jettison the provisions and procedures of the Act in a University as old as UniPort, will be asking for nothing less than mutiny.
By now, we expected the FME to have investigated through the University of Port Harcourt Management, the professor who caused near mayhem by declaring himself Vice Chancellor backed by a congratulatory party in the University on the 29th May, 2020. Being keen followers of happenings in UniPort, we expected the FME to publicly condemn the professor and his political allies. Failure of the FME to either condemn or come tough on this professor is not just a glaring endorsement of what the professor and his politician cohorts/supporters did, it is also granting of freedom to any other professor, especially those in the VCship race of the University, to do so. What type of University are we then growing?
Our investigation shows that apart from the unnecessary politics of the professor who declared himself Vice Chancellor on 29th May, 2020, the University of Port Harcourt has no known internal problem requiring imposition of Vice Chancellor. Our investigation also shows that the activities/collaboration of the professor who declared himself Vice Chancellor and the immediate past Council Chairman might have culminated in the recent desolution of the University Governing Council. Till date, we are not aware of any other contestant formenting trouble using different means including instituting court processes against the University via pseudo names.
We are watching the events as they unfold.
Signed
Concerned University of Port Harcourt Senate Members