A crisis is developing at Edo State University in Uzairue, Etsako West, about Prof. Emmanuel Aluyor, the vice chancellor of the university, and his purported prolonged tenure in office.
On November 28, 2023, the vice chancellor’s second term was supposed to come to an end after eight years in office.
Since then, his prolonged tenure in office has caused some unease in the academic community and has caused his potential successors to stagnate.
The Edo Consciousness (TEC), a sociopolitical organisation, declared that it will oppose Aluyor’s sit-tight posture, arguing that it violates both the letter and the spirit of the rules set forth by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
In a press release issued over the weekend and signed by its “protem” chairman, Mr. Johnny Ogbode, it was said that it was legally unacceptable for the vice chancellor to remain in office after his term ended.
In order to prevent a collapse in law and order, which could occur if the situation is allowed to continue, the organisation called on the appropriate authorities to intervene.The Edo state university was established during the second term of the former Governor, Mr. Adams Oshiomole, now a serving Senator.
The group claims that Aluyor has made it very difficult for the institution’s governing council to select qualified replacements, pointing out that on November 29, 2023, the council was supposed to name an acting vice chancellor and start the process of looking for a permanent replacement.
Ogbode claimed that Aluyor had started operating in an acting capacity in order to thwart the efforts of other deserving candidates to unseat him.
To support their claims, the group cited the examples of Professors Obioma Anthony Nwaopara, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), and Vincent Aizebeoje Balogun, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics).
Reacting, the school Registrar, Habib Idris Ekhalefo said only the governing council and the visitor to the school which is the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has the right to determine issue of tenure of the vice chancellor.
The petitioners according to him, “are interlopers who have no business on the issue at stake.
”But the group said it was trying to prevent the National Universities Commission (NUC) hammer from falling on the institution, given that the regulatory body does not waste any time in sanctioning institutions that flout its code on the tenure of vice chancellors.