Professor Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh, the Vice-Chancellor of the Nnamdi Azikwe University (UNIZIK) whom President Bola Tinubu sacked on Wednesday, reacted on Thursday by saying he was not appointed through a press release.

On Wednesday, Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s special adviser on information and strategy, announced Odoh’s sack and the dissolution of the university’s governing council in a press statement.

During a live interview on Arise TV’s The Morning Show on Thursday, Odoh dismissed his sacking, saying “I was not appointed through a press release. After this interview, I am heading to the office.”

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“I was appointed by a constituted authority, the governing council, and issued my appointment letter. Up till now, I have not received any communication from those who appointed me,” he said.

STATE HOUSE PRESS RELEASEPRESIDENT TINUBU SACKS NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY COUNCIL, VC AND REGISTRAR…REMOVES PRO-CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES IN OTUKPOPresident Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the dissolution of the Governing Council of the Nnamdi Azikiwe… pic.twitter.com/I6QTVbur8I— Bayo Onanuga (@aonanuga1956) November 20, 2024

He said that he became professor on October 1, 2015 by virtue of his elevation by the management of the University of Gusau, Zamfara, adding that “the issue of not being a professor is all lies.”

Referring to a disclaimer by the same university about his professorship, he said that “what some people did was to pay someone somewhere to remove all my entire records from that university. But those who assessed me at the time are still alive and they have testified on oath to confirm their role in the process”

“There is no written communication either from NUC [National Universities Commission] from the ministry [Federal Ministry of Education] asking the governing council to explain what is going on in the university.

“I have not been communicated, there is no panel of inquiry. All I heard yesterday was to see information on the media space that I have been removed. I was not appointed through a press release. I was appointed by a constituted authority and I have their letter. After this interview, I am heading to the office. I have not committed any crime.”

‘I WANT THE WORLD TO HEAR ME’

While saying that he did not mean to violate the president’s directive, he said that he was only pointing out that the process recognised by the law had not been followed in removing him.

He equally said that he craved the world’s attention to hear his own side of the story because he was never offered a chance to defend himself before the president took his decision.

“As I speak with you, we have three accreditation teams who arrived the university two days ago. 42 of our programmes are supposed to be accredited this season. Now if you say you have sacked the council, you sacked the VC and the registrar, this means the ministry has introduced anarchy on campus,” the professor of applied geophysics explained.

“Where do we go from here? So it is the Federal Ministry of Education that is introducing crisis on campus. By the way, the ministry does not have the power to appoint the council, the visitor does.”

Asked if he was over-ruling the president by insisting on going to the office, Udoh has this to say, “The authority of the president sacrosanct on this matter. I am not challenging his authority. There are three accreditation teams on campus. What I intend to do is to go to the university and tell the DVC academics [Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Academics] who is not involved in this matter to carry out with the activities and ensure we don’t lose our accreditation. So that functions can flow smoothly. I am not disobeying Mr. President.”

In the presidency’s statement, Onanuga said Udoh was unqualified. However, the embattled VC maintained that he was qualified. Highlighting the procedure for removal, he said only the visitor to the university could remove him but not unilaterally.

“The University Act 2007 says the visitor can remove the vice-chancellor through the council. The council would set up a joint committee of the council and the senate, and that committee would investigate me. Upon their report, they would now recommend my removal to the visitor. This is the procedure. It is in the act.

“I am saying, may be, the president may have been ill-advised. May be he needs to look at what the law says. He can remove me, but through the guidance of the council and the committee of five persons.”

Udoh suggested that the decision to sack him was unfair as he was never invited to defend himself against all the accusations.

“They never even wrote to me to say all of these have been said about you, can you provide us with the facts of the matter? I don’t have any letter, nobody spoke to me, nobody invited me anywhere,” the 49-year-old scholar said.

“I am not disrespecting the president. I will not work as VC is if they say they have removed me. I am not challenging anybody, but I have stated my own side of the story and I want the world to hear me. The process that brought me up was a legitimate process of law and it was followed to the letters.”

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According to him, five cases instituted by different parties against him were still ongoing before the National Industrial Court and the Federal High Court.

Earlier in October, EQ had reported how a disagreement between the governing council and clinical lecturers at the university’s teaching hospital over their right to aspire to become the VC of the school was derailing students’ learning process.
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