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Chief Okoi Obono-Obla
By Akpan David, Calabar
The Alumni Association of University of Cross River State has decried the appointments of three Vice Chancellors of the tertiary institution within four months.
They have raised the alarm several fundamental issues have gone wrong, including the refusal by the authorities to replace the governing Council of the university which tenure has since elapsed.
In a statement, national president of the UNICROSS Alumni Association, Dr Peter inyali said, “Seriously, Unicross is at a crossroad. Within four months, the University has had three VCs. The danger with keeping a council that its tenure has elapsed is that the next administration would make reference to it and the trend will continue.
“Our appeal is that, if the Governor is so impressed with the current council, he should come out and re-appoint them. The immediate past administration introduced the regime of Acting VC appointment, you can see that the current administration has continued with that.
“UNICROSS needs some stability. You cannot continue to appoint people every three months while from the governance angle, you’ve a council that no longer exists in the eyes of the law and expect the institution to move forward.”
Inyali disclosed that the National Executive Council of the Association addressed the issue, calling on Governor Bassey Otu to reconstitute the council to no avail.
He expressed worry that people have politicized the issue thereby leaving the University systems to be on disarray.
According to him, there’s so much discontent in the University currently.
He also lamented how the University authorities have disregarded the position of the law which created the school.
Dr Peter Inyali
“The truth is that the university is a creation of law and until the laws are amended, even the Governor who’s the Visitor to the University must exercise his powers within the confines of the law.
“The current council was constituted by the past administration in 2019. The Chairman was Dr. Emil Inyang who’s now in the House of Representatives.
“He had resigned briefly to run the 2019 election. Within the period, an Acting Chairman was appointed to replace him temporarily. However, when he couldn’t make it, the then Governor asked him to return to his position. He (not a new council) was sworn-in in 2020 to takeover from the acting Chairman.
“This means that the four year term of the council elapsed in 2023. The council is an institution and not about an individual.
“However, when the NEC came out to call for the reconstitution of the council, some people argued that the tenure of the council was now counting from when Dr. Inyang was reappointed in 2020. Even this self-imposed tenure ended in June, 2024.
“As we speak, there’s so much discontent in the University because the internal members who were elected for a four-year term in 2019 are still in council till date, serving their sixth years.
He rued the foot dragging by the governor in intervening in the lingering crisis in the state university even though his moves in the school since assuming power last year are commendable.
Reacting angrily, too, former presidential aide, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla said in a statement, that the appointment of the purported Pro-Chancellor/ chairman of the Governing Council of UNICROSS is illegal.
He said “all decisions taken by the illegal council are illegal, null, and void, including staff promotions, discipline, contracts, etc.
“The law is that from a dishonorable cause, an action does not arise. In other words, no court will lend its aid to a man who found his case of action upon an immoral or illegal act.”
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