UNIZIK VC selection: Is there no place for merit again?

One of the reasons why Nigeria is not where it is supposed to be at the moment is the issue of federal character which enthrones mediocrity. Under Federal character, merit is thrown to the dogs and the best of the land are consigned to the dustbin while the ignorant are allowed to dictate for the state. A recent case comes to mind. When the result of the last federal common entrance examination was released indicating the cut off marks for different states, the southerners were crying foul. Why? The cut off mark for Yobe was 2 for males while the cut off mark for both males and females from Anambra was 139. The Anambra people cried. It is injustice!!!. Abia was 130, Delta- 131; Enugu -134 even Ebonyi was 112 for both male and females. We all know how educationally disadvantaged Ebonyi is compared to other states in the South East. The South Easterners were unhappy and lambasted the federal character system. The South wants merit to guide admissions, appointments and election into public offices. This is a position we all share from the South West through South-South to South East. This position is canvassed mostly by academics who understand the importance of merit and that includes the UNIZIK academics. I am begining to wonder if the UNIZIK academics have different criteria for merit as regards the selection of the next VC. This is because it seems to me that merit has been crucified in the alter of favouritism and rub-my-back-and – I will-rub-your-back politics. The first nail: The template provided by the NUC stipulated that for an academic to qualify as VC aspirant, he/she must have been a professor for at least 10 years. However in UNZIK’s instance, in other to accomodate Prof Nwakoby who has been a professor for only 7 years, it was reduced to 7 years. The second nail: The election of senate members of the selection committe was rigged. For instance Prof Onyenekwe was relieved of his position as the Sub-dean of PG school so that a Nwakoby compliant sub-dean would be installed in. New directorates were created and at least 40 people were recruited during the run up to the election. These people were recruited and instructed on who to vote for during the senate election. Third nail: The level of maliciousness in the campaign propaganda from the camp of Nwakoby’s senate rep aspirants would make Nigerian politicians green with envy. You wouldn’t expect that from a learned professors. It had desperation written all over it. And I was forced to ask, are we still academics? Fourth nail: The council shortlist committe based on the merits of the CVs of the candidates which is verifiable shortlisted 9 candidates. Prof Nwakoby was in fifth position with 74/100 behind Prof Ahaneku ( 94/100) in first position, Prof Osisioma in second ........ According NUC template, the final score would consist of 73% CV score and 27% interview score. This translates to 55.5/73 for Prof Nwakoby and 68.6/73 for Prof Ahanaeku. The council adopted this but the VC, Prof Egboka was obviously annoyed and unhappy because he wanted to jettison the result of the CV assessment carried out by council inaugrated shortlist committe since it did not favour his candidate who would not make the final shortlist if the rule is allowed to stand. The council chairman AVM Larry Koinyan who ruled in favour of the 73:27 ration was obviously compromised before the kangaroo meeting of 21/05/2014. In the said meeting, Profs Egolum and Ilirika rejected the the NUC template arguing that they were not part of the meeting that decided to to use it. That was enough to persuade AVM Larry Koinyan to fix another meeting for 22/05/2014 which overturned the earlier decision. That was too easy for a retired high ranking AIRFORCE personnel who are known to be very disciplined and the most disciplined in Nigerian military. Laughable: The selection committe reassessed the CVs of the 9 professors shortlisted and interviewed them as well. Prof Egolum was brave enough to score Prof Ahaneku 22/50 on CV while he scored Prof Nwakoby 48/50. I will present the CVs to the public for the public to score. The final result according the hatchet men in connivance with AVM returned Nwakoby as No. 1 and Prof Ahaneku no 2. Oga AVM was summoned to explain how he overtuned the lead overnight. The entire exercise tuned inconclusive as he had to abandon the scheduled council meeting to Abuja at about 3pm yesterday. I am also asking the public to ask AVM how he did it. Concerned Academic.