The University of Abuja security personnel acting on orders from the authorities have arrested some journalists and cameramen with the Channels TV media organisation and also damaged their equipment.
SaharaReporters learnt that the Channels TV crew members were assaulted on Tuesday morning amid an ongoing plot by the university authorities to impose the Acting VC, Prof. Aisha Maikudi, on the school as its substantive VC.
SaharaReporters gathered that a crisis Senate meeting was scheduled for 9 am on Tuesday where the Governing Council sought to replace Senate members who had refused to endorse the imposition of Maikudi on the institution.
“UNIABUJA arrested Channels TV crew and damaged their cameras just few minutes ago,” a source said.
SaharaReporters reported in November that some concerned academic members of the University of Abuja through their counsel, Muiz Banire & Associates, submitted a petition to Dr. Morufu Olatunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, regarding apparent irregularities in the ongoing selection process for the substantive Vice-Chancellor of the university.
The petition, which was copied to President Bola Tinubu, the Senate and the House of Representatives leaders, noted that the minister must enforce the provision of the guidelines for VC appointment in ensuring that the appointee must be a professor with at least 10 years of experience.
In their petition dated 22nd November 2024 and obtained by SaharaReporters, the concerned academic members corroborated SaharaReporters’ findings about the plots to favour the acting vice-chancellor.
The petition said the governing council deliberately breached rules and regulations governing the affairs of the institution for years.
In October, SaharaReporters reported how the Governing Council of the university was reportedly attempting to impose Prof. Maikudi, the acting Vice Chancellor, as its substantive Vice-Chancellor.
According to sources, the university’s governing council had bent the rules by relaxing qualification standards in an attempt to facilitate Maikudi’s appointment as the substantive VC.
The move had raised concerns about the fairness and transparency of the selection process.
According to multiple university sources who spoke to SaharaReporters, the plot to install Maikudi as Vice Chancellor was orchestrated by the immediate past VC, Prof Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah.
Sources had claimed Na’Allah sought to repay a debt of gratitude to Maikudi’s father, who helped him secure the VC position five years earlier despite significant opposition.
A few days after SaharaReporters’ report, Maikudi, in a letter sent to the Minister of Education through the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), dated November 6, 2024, had raised concerns over the governance of the school.
The acting vice-chancellor had alleged that a series of actions taken under the leadership of the Chairman of Council, Air Vice Marshal Saddiq Isma’ila Kaita (retd.), “have the potential of seriously impinging the good governance, stability and progress of the University of Abuja”.