• VC Fails to Present Candidates for Election for Fear of Backlash
•ASUU Veterans Ask Minister to Withdraw Approval for the Creation of Office
By Waziri Isa Adam
The thursday attempt by the Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Professor Kabiru Bala, to create Office of a Third Deputy Vice Chancellor may have hit the rocks for the second time, as the Vice Chancellor could not present, as earlier planned, name of his crony and real candidate he had wanted to see elected on the floor of the Senate, for fear of backlash from the senate members.
The unexpected development is seen by many discerning members of the senate as a smart action the Vice Chancellor had to take, through his deputy in charge of administration, Professor Ahmed Doko, as a face saving measure, to stave off backlash following rejection of the unpopular and seeming ill-motivated proposal by the Institution’s branch of Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), which they had earlier protested and described as an illegal action that would have violated laws of the university
The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, who chaired the senate meeting informed members that in the absence of Council the university management approached the Honorable Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, in line with the university laws, to obtain approval to create Office of a Third Deputy Vice Chancellor in the university, which he obliged.
After passing the information, members expected the deputy Vice Chancellor to present names of the usually two candidates, to the senate for election as earlier rumoured, but, kept mum on the issue.
Education Monitor gathered that vast majority of the senate members attended the meeting to actually frustrate any attempt by the Vice Chancellor to impose his puppet as the third deputy Vice Chancellor, on reading the mood of members which did not give positive signal, the deputy Vice Chancellor tactically discontinued discussion on the controversial topic, which many in the university hoped that the issue is going to be put to rest as earlier adviced by ASUU, giving the illegality and controversy surrounding the creation of the office of the third deputy Vice Chancellor.
However, concerned veterans of the Union in the university have challenged the power of the Minister to approve the creation of the office of the Third Deputy Vice Chancellor, calling on him to withdraw the approval to allow peace to reign and to avoid setting a bad an illegitimate precedent in the university.
Adding his voice to the controversy the former strongman of the Union in the university, Professor Muhammad Kabir Aliyu, argued that the matter is not as simple as electing a new Deputy Vice Chancellor in senate just as it was done recently in the case of the re-election of the deputy Vice Chancellor, administration, and the election of the deputy Vice Chancellor, academic.
Professor Aliyu stressed that in the case of the office of the Third Deputy Vice Chancellor, which is not known because it does not exist, and never existed in the protracted history of the ivory tower, is not part of ABU Law or Statutes.
“Therefore, what is needed, if the office must be created at all, is amendment of the ABU Laws first to capture the office of the Third Deputy Vice Chancellor, or give it whatever name, and have the amendment gazetted”, he further highlighted, adding that, “It is only after this has been done, the process of appointing someone to occupy the office can start from the senate and then finally have it approved by the council.
He said the Minister of Education in this case cannot singlehandedly begin that huge process, which requires brainstorming on the matter by a full and conventional council to agree on the need and rationale for the creation of the office of the Third Deputy Vice Chancellor”, he lectured.