The Federal University Gusau in Zamfara State has distanced itself from the recently dismissed Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh, asserting that he has never worked as a professor at the university.
Speaking to reporters in Gusau on Thursday, the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Muazu Abubakar, stated that Odoh was neither employed by the university nor appointed as a professor.
Abubakar further clarified that the documents Odoh has presented, including letters purportedly offering him a tenure as a professor and confirming his promotion to that post, were fraudulent.
These letters, dated April 30, 2015, and November 12, 2015, were claimed to be certified true copies that had been hurriedly endorsed by the university’s former Registrar, Ibrahim Bawa Kaura, on November 8, 2024, six years after Odoh had left the university’s services. Abubakar accused Odoh of orchestrating administrative fraud, working in collaboration with the former Vice Chancellor and the former Registrar of the university.
The Vice Chancellor stressed that there was no official documentation to substantiate Odoh’s alleged employment as a staff member of the Federal University Gusau, labeling the entire affair as fraudulent and lacking due process.
This development follows the recent dissolution of the Governing Council of Nnamdi Azikiwe University by President Bola Tinubu.
The President also approved the removal of Bernard Ifeanyi Odoh as Vice Chancellor and Rosemary Ifoema Nwokike as Registrar.
The action was taken after reports revealed that the university’s governing council had illegally appointed an unqualified vice chancellor without adhering to the proper procedures, according to a statement by presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga.
