FCC certifies appointment of Njodi as Unimaid VC

By Maryam Garba Hassan

The Federal Character Commission (FCC) has approved the appointment of Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi as the new Vice Chancellor of University of Maiduguri.

The Commission conveyed to the University the Certificate of Compliance for the appointment of Prof. Njodi through a certificate of Compliance with Ref FCC/099/S.5E/19/11/267 dated 23rd May 2014.

The certificate reads “as authority to issue letter of appointment to Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi as the Vice-Chancellor, University of Maiduguri.’’

According to the Certificate, “on no account shall the name of the approved candidate be substituted/replaced/altered without prior written consent of the Commission.’’

Meanwhile, the university has said the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the University Council, Alhaji Lawan Bukar Marguba, has no powers to unilaterally cancel any decision of the Governing Council that was duly made in line with the extant laws, regulations and due process of the University.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Chief Information Officer of the University, Mal. Mohammed T. Ahmed.

According to him, the constitution and functions of the University and its constituent bodies including the Governing Council are contained in the University of Maiduguri Act CAP U10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

The statement said the clearance became necessary due to the purported unilateral cancellation of the appointment of Prof. Njodi as the new Vice-Chancellor of the University as approved by the Governing Council at its Special Meeting of Council held on 20th of May, 2014, in Abuja by the Pro-Chancellor Alhaji Lawan Bukar Marguba.

It would be recalled that the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Council Lawan Bukar Marguba, in a statement issued at the weekend in Abuja, dissociated himself from the choice of Njodi, describing the selection by some members of his Council as “totally wrong and unacceptable”.

According to Marguba, he and some members of the Council had objected to consideration of report of the selection board, which had recommended the appointment of Njodi as VC due to police order and absence of the University’s Registrar input to the report.

He said the Borno state Police Command had written to them demanding that the process of selecting a new VC be halted as the Police was investigating allegations of illegal promotion of Prof. Njodi.

“As a law-abiding citizen, I had no option but to comply with the Police order and instructed an earlier panel set up by the Council to investigate the allegation to stay action in the interest of peace and tranquillity.

“However, the panel refused to comply with my directive and went ahead with their activities and submitted their report to Special Meeting of the Council held on May 26, 2014”, Marguba said.