Vice Chancellor aspirant drags UniUyo Governing Council to court

Prof. Effiong Johnson, a Vice Chancellor aspirant in
University of Uyo, has challenged his disqualification by
the Governing Council at the Federal High Court.
Johnson, who is a former Dean of Students Affairs, said
in Uyo on Sunday that he was surprised that only his
name was omitted from those invited for final interview
to the office of the vice chancellor.
As the university orator, I am not satisfied with the
treatment meted to me by the governing council of
which I have been a member for three terms.
The advert declaring vacant the position of the vice
chancellor of the University of Uyo came out in the
punch newspaper of April 28, 2015 and criteria for the
person of the vice chancellor were clearly stated.
This is my third term in the governing council; with that
credential, I am not a novice, neither do I fall short of
the requirements for the vice chancellorship position.
Item B which, among others, stated that the person of a
vice chancellor, as advertised, should have had twenty
years of experience in the university setting, ten of
which must be as a professor.
I also heard some rumour that the governing council
may have had another interpretation to that particular
criterion.
I clocked ten years as a professor on Oct. 1, 2015, and
the interview for that job was billed for Oct. 15, 2015.
So, I had to institute a case challenging the process of
my not being invited in the Federal High Court,’’
Johnson said.
He said that before the interview was conducted, the
university was served with an injunction restraining the
governing council from conducting the interview.
He said that in spite of the injunction, the university
went ahead to conduct the interview without inviting
him
Johnson said the fact that he was not invited for the
interview was evidence that something was wrong
which the court must unravel.
It would be recalled that on Oct. 19, the university
Registrar/Secretary to council, Mrs Edak Umondak,
announced that the governing council had approved the
appointment of Prof. Enefiok Essien, as the new vice
chancellor for the institution. (NAN)