Strange things are currently happening at my alma mater the University of Abuja that would no longer warrant my silence or indifference or that of anyone with a modicum of conscience who is connected with the Institution in any way. All people of conscience and goodwill must intervene to save the university from itself, or rather save it from the unconscionable antics of the misguided few who are hellbent on railroading our beloved alma mater toward self-destruct. I may be far away from the Nigerian milieu. However, it is still painfully inconceivable to keep watching how some of the university dons and supposedly leading lights of society are pushing to reverse the recent monumental gains aimed at elevating the operations of Nigerian universities via the hard-earned self-governing status. It is not only autonomy but the essence of the University of Abuja as a citadel of learning that is under fatal threat.

The recent unilateral and unlawful removal of the youthful and dynamic 7th substantive Vice-Chancellor of the University of Abuja, Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has sent shockwaves across the country, especially in the Nigerian university system. This is due to the inherent impunity and the audacity of appointing an acting Vice-Chancellor to replace her from elsewhere against all known extant laws and procedures. In a move by the presidency that has remained unexplained and inexplicable to date, the government also unilaterally dissolved the entire Governing Council, abruptly sacking the external and internal members of the highest policy-making body.  This in itself is questionable given that the president by law can only remove the external members who are his appointees by their being appointed by the federal government. On the other hand, the internal members are elected representatives of the University Senate and Congregation. They are, therefore, beyond the legal purview of Mr. President to do as he pleases with their tenure.

Beyond the initial shock of the strange appointment of Professor Patricia Manko Lar from the University of Jos as acting Vice-Chancellor at the University of Abuja, is the attendant palpable fear within the University of Abuja community and the larger Nigerian university system of a resuscitation of the spectre of sole administration that has been laid to rest since the commencement of the current civil-democratic dispensation in 1999. Knowledgeable technocrats, university dons, and career practitioners in the tertiary education sector are quick to point out that the extant laws, specifically the universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Amendment Act 2003, No. 1 of 2007, otherwise known as the Autonomy Act, have effectively banned sole administration in Nigerian universities. For instance, Section 5 (12) of the Act is stated, thus: “There shall be no sole administration in any Nigerian University”. Section 5 (13) further states: “In any case of a vacancy in the office of the Vice-Chancellor, the Council shall appoint an acting Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the Senate”.

However, it is this bizarre state of affairs at the University of Abuja where the government flagrantly breached the autonomy of the Institution that some academics including my former teachers in the Faculty of Law have decided to celebrate. All because of envy of the attainment and/or unbridled hatred of their younger by-age colleague who rose to the pinnacle of her academic-cum-administrative career. That the self-styled group of 44 members of the University Senate could transcend gloating over the unlawful sacking of their in-house colleague as Vice-Chancellor to the awful and disgraceful placement of an advertorial in the Vanguard of Tuesday, February 18, 2025, appreciating President Tinubu’s wilful desecration of the extant laws and governance processes and best practices has surely reduced our beloved citadel of learning into a theatre of the absurd.  Indeed, celebrate Professor Maikudi’s temporary downfall anyhow you like, but the labour of the system’s past and present heroes- Jegas, Festus Iyayes, and contemporary ASUU leaders and genuine members- in attaining and sustaining university autonomy in Nigeria can never be in vain. In other words, the current sole administration at the University may temporarily console the sore losers (and their supporters) of the last transition that Professor Maikudi emerged victorious, but both the short and long-term consequences of their infantile and hate-filled activism would return to haunt and shame them in the times ahead.

By the way, given the brazen manner in which the President has eroded the university’s autonomy and wilfully breached extant laws to enforce the new incongruous governance and management order at the University of Abuja, it has remained unclear what noble mission or objective, if any, the government intends to achieve. This is because even the execution of the sweeping decisions made in a press statement has been quite shoddy. It has now emerged that while it was announced that President Tinubu approved the “leadership changes”, the letter appointing Professor Patricia Manko Lar as acting Vice-Chancellor signed by the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education said the Minister of Education approved the appointment. This is strange because neither the President nor the Minister can approve Professor Lar’s appointment simultaneously. It ought to be by one of the two authorities, but none of whom has the power to do so.

As it legally stands today, the President is only informed of a Vice-Chancellor’s appointment (substantive or acting) by the Governing Council. He approves the appointment of the Rectors of Federal Polytechnics. The Minister of Education can only approve the appointment of the Provost of Federal Colleges of Education, acting as their Visitor, and has no locus standi whatsoever to approve Professor Lar’s appointment at the University of Abuja. Added to the mix of the unfolding governmental mumbo jumbo over the university is the failure to explain why the ousted Vice-Chancelor Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi was her duties. My contacts at the Federal Ministry of Education headquarters in Abuja have even underscored this as the reason behind her not receiving a letter conveying her ouster by the government. One would have thought that governmental business, a serious one, would have required the Tinubu Administration to have diligently thought through all the issues involved in such matters of grave significance before taking action. If not, how and why is it difficult, if true, for the government to convey a letter of disengagement to Professor Aisha Sani Maikudi? Or, was it a case of improper advice or misguidance of the presidency by some yet unknown vested interests leading it to this avoidable imbroglio?

Whatever the case, the reintroduction of sole administration at the University of Abuja by the Tinubu Administration by other means is not only unlawful and condemnable but is also not worthy of celebration by any stretch of the imagination. Stooping so low to appreciate the President for undoing the University’s autonomy and also joining the enablers of the odious project in hailing the return of the Institution to the status of what Professor Jega the erstwhile National President of ASUU once described as a “glorified grammar school”, is a suicidal career-cum-image move by the gang of 44 and their supporters. One cannot at this moment contemplate changing his destiny, but to now remember that some of these short-sighted lot taught us at the University is not only awful but disgraceful to all of us; their entire students.

Nwoha is a graduate student of the University of Calgary, Canada