From Umar Dankano, Yola
The selection of a new Vice Chancellor of Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH) Yola, last week has created tension in the University and dissention among some staff of the university as disenchanted staff claimed that the selection process was flawed.
The development followed the selection of Prof. Kyari Mohammed, as the new VC to replace the out- going VC Prof. Bashir Usman Haruna, as announced by Prof. Bullama Manu, Chairman of the University Governing Council.
Some of the complaints range from the inability of the Panel to come up with a template for a fair selection process just as others said the whole process was shrouded in secrecy which resulted in change of venues for the process three times as a result of which it was conducted at a hotel.
One of the contestants Prof. Remilekun M. Odekunle, who came second in the selection process expressed confidence that the National Universities Commission (NUC) will right the wrongs of the selection process.
The major grouse of the aggrieved contestants was that the new Vice Chancellor was a professor of history who ought not to be selected as the VC of the University according to the selection criteria as the university is technologically oriented.
“I have nothing to say than my confidence is well placed in NUC. If it allows this to go, so be it. My confidence in NUC is as a result of a similar incidence sometime in 1999 where the system rose to do the right thing,” Prof. Odekunle said.
Another contestant Prof. Abdu A. Sajoh who came third expressed dismay over the failure of the panel to comply with due process in the selection process.
The preponderance of argument against the emergence of Prof. Kyari were anchored by the non-adherence to pre-selection criteria which they said was a breach of the clause that the “VC must have a core discipline or area of specialization in one of the departments in the University.
