University of Abuja in fresh crisis over appointment of acting registrar

The crisis rocking the University of Abuja (UNIABUJA) over the appointment of principal officers has taken a new dimension, especially as the tenure of the incumbent Registrar of the University, Mohammed Yahya, is billed to end on Monday, 11 November.

PREMIUM TIMES reliably gathered that an acting registrar duly appointed by the university’s governing council on Tuesday, 5 November, Islamiyah Abdulraheem, may be withdrawn on Friday (today) as the council is billed to hold another emergency meeting.

According to sources within the council, the Chairman of the governing council, Sadiq Kaita, a retired Air Vice-Marshal, who reportedly chaired the selection process of the acting registrar, had called for another meeting on Wednesday where he allegedly suggested a change of decision but was rebuffed by other members of the council, especially the representatives of the university’s Senate.

But Mr Kaita is said to be hellbent on changing the decision as he has fixed another emergency meeting for Friday.

Some workers in the university who craved anonymity for fear of sanctions have alleged that the ploy is to extend the tenure of the outgoing registrar whose five-year single term of office is expected to end on Monday.

The scheming is part of the ongoing politicking in the appointment of principal officers for the university.

Since the exit of the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of the institution, AbdulRasheed Na’Allah, a professor, and the appointment of Aisha Maikudi, a professor of Law, in an acting capacity, the process of appointing a substantive vice-chancellor has been fraught with controversies.

Directive to VC

PREMIUM TIMES reliably gathered that as part of the ploy to bar the acting registrar from resuming office, the outgoing registrar wrote the acting vice chancellor suggesting that the chairman of the council wanted the university management to inform the public that the process of appointing an acting registrar was not yet concluded.

But the announcement of Mrs Abdulraheem as the acting registrar has since been made by the university and posted on its official social media handles including Facebook.

The development informed the decision of some individuals on the campus to share a warning message across various WhatsApp groups advising the governing council to desist from causing another round of crisis on the campus.

The viral message is titled: “Plot to Stop Appointment of UNIABUJA Acting Registrar Thickens”.

It reads in part: “The embattled Governing Council of the University of Abuja was yesterday thrown into turmoil once over appointment of an acting registrar. The tenure of Yahya Mohammed, the incumbent Registrar, will expire on November 11. On Tuesday the University announced Mrs Islamiyat Fayoke Abdulrahim as Acting Registrar until appointment of a substantive one. However, since then there have been spirited attempts to reverse the appointment. First, the Pro-Chancellor, Air Vice Marshal Sadiq Isma’ila Kaita, who had chaired the meeting that ratified the appointment of Abdulrahim, hastily summoned another extraordinary meeting yesterday evening and tried to annul the earlier appointment. He was stoutly resisted by members of the Council, and the meeting ended in a deadlock.”

The message further noted that the appointment of Mrs Abdulrahim was warmly received in the university, warning that “any attempt to change it will plunge the university into crisis.”

University, Council chair keep mum

Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction of the university and that of the Chairman of the governing council, Mr Kaita proved abortive.

When called on the phone, the spokesman for the university, Habib Yakoob, initially said the “line wasn’t clear enough,” and as soon as the reporter spoke louder, the call was ended.

Mr Yakoob has not picked calls to his line since then.

Similarly, Mr Kaita neither picked the calls to his line nor replied to a message sent to his phone since Thursday. He has, however, read the message but failed to reply.

Backstory

Earlier in October, a governing council meeting called to appoint members of the selection committee for the vice chancellor, registrar and bursar of the university almost degenerated into a fullblown crisis.

A member of the council and retired professor in a popular university had staged a walk-out from the council meeting over allegation of bias against the chairman of the council.

The council member had alerted the public through widespread media report, accusing the leadership of the governing council of attempting to lower the criteria for selection of the principal officers.

Meanwhile, a former member of the university’s governing council who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES on condition of anonymity, has warned against removal of the “duly appointed” acting registrar for the university, saying the outgoing registrar cannot by law spend a day longer in office.

The source said: “The University Autonomy Act is very clear about the tenure of principal officers. It is five-year single tenure and should there be any reason for inability to appoint a substantiv replacement for an outgoing registrar at the expiration of their tenure a qualified senior official in the registry should be appointed.

“And in this case, that is exactly what was done leading to the appointment of Mrs Abdulraheem. So what is the problem again? The council chairman wants to turn the university to a military command where orders are issued anyhow? That is not acceptable here.”