Ben Agande
Kaduna – A meeting convened by the National University Commission at the instance of the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu to discontinue the investigation of corruption against the suspended Vice Chancellor of University, Professor Haruna Kaita ended in a deadlock as the Board insisted that the investigation must continue in the interest of justice.

Malam Adamu Adamu

A source at the meeting which held on Wednesday in Abuja told Vanguard that despite the persuasion by the National University commission that the investigation should be discontinued and the suspended Vice Chancellor be allowed to come back to his position but the board of the university insisted that doing so would send a wrong signal.

It would be recalled that the Board of the new university suspended the vice chancellor for six weeks to allow for investigations of several petitions against him bordering on corruption and abuse of office.

The insistence by the chairman of the council to go ahead with the investigation prompted a lot of pressure from political and religious figures who insisted that the suspended vice chancellor be recalled.

Because of the pressure, the chairperson of the council, Dr Marliya Zayyana threatened to resign her position forcing the Minister of Education to convened the peace meeting.

Vanguard gathered that at the meeting which was presided over by the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, the Board chairperson of the university advanced three points which according to her, would make the lifting of the six weeks suspension impossible.

A member of the board who was at the meeting said the argument of the board was that since a committee has been empanelled to investigate the allegations against the vice Chancellor, the investigation should be concluded.

The source who did not want his name mentioned because he is not authorised to speak on the matter said: “the position of the Council was that, it would be setting a very bad precedent if it reverses itself and truncate the work of the panel before it even start. We felt that the panel should be allowed to work and the allegations are not established, it would be more honourable.

” Secondly the board felt that we would be setting a bad percent if we allow undue interference by external forces in the discharge of our duties. As members of the board, we felt that we owe the university community a duty to ensure that standards are set and maintained. No responsible boars will be happy that a university that one year ago ranked 14 in ranking suddenly dropped to 34. We felt something must be wrong. We made our representation and thankfully, it made sense” he said.

Meanwhile, the Interim Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities at the Federal University Dutsinma, Dr Samuel Zumve has insisted that whether he is cleared or not, the suspended Vice Chancellor of the university no longer enjoy the support of the university community to continue in his position.

In an interview with Sunday Vanguard in Dutsinma, Dr Zumve said the best option for the federal government was to appoint a new vice Chancellor for the university.