CONTRARY to claims of transparency and due process by management of Kogi State University, Anyigba, about the ongoing process of producing a new Vice Chancellor to succeed the outgoing Professor Hassan Isah, the process is nothing but a huge charade, KogiReports has learnt.
An impeccable source within the institution reliably informed our reporter that it was in a desperate attempt to disguise the travesty that the press was shot out of the entire process, including last week’s Oral Presentations Ceremony by shortlisted candidates for the position.
According to our source, just as it has become customary with such plum positions, there are various interests that have prevented fairness in the emergence of the new head of the institution, including some members of the outgoing management who want to protect their interest at the expiration of their tenure.
According to our reporter, he became suspicious of the entire event (Oral Presentation) when a management member approached him at the venue of the occasion on seeing him jotting on his pad and told him to identify himself and when he did, he was told point blank that no press coverage was allowed and that all efforts made to explain himself fell on deaf ears as he was ordered out of the hall.
The event took place at the University’s Auditorium on Monday, 17th August, 2015.
One of the popular journalists known in the University for reporting events in several print media outlets from the campus, told our reporter that the management may have its reason for not allowing the media to cover the event.
According to him, a member of the institution’s Public Relations Department had told him pointblank not to write anything from the event, a decision he respected to the surprise of reporter.
The Picture became clearer to our reporter when one of the candidates for the position informed our reporter on the condition of anonymity that the entire process was a sham from the beginning, and questioned the criteria that were followed before the university arrived at the number of persons that were invited for the oral presentation.
In his words: “The truth is that, as has already been understood by the public, the person to become the Vice Chancellor of the University has already been predetermined by the management and possibly, government.
“All the advertorial for the position in the media is just an attempt to fulfill all righteousness. The trouble is that such process would produce nothing but someone that would play to the dictates of those who installed him there and that is not a good thing if we are really interested in taking the university out of the woods.”
A management member however debunked the story, describing it as a fabrication of those who may not have the requisite qualities required of a Vice Chancellor of first-grade University like KSU.
He defended management, saying that as expected and in best global practices, authorities of the university are giving fair chances to all applicants, adding that the best is only what is good for the institution.
