“ Nigeria is The Only Country Where Professors Rig Elections For Politicians But Expel Students For Examination Malpractice.”-Prof. Wole Soyinka

Recently, the collation officer appointed by the Independent National Electoral Commission for the Presidential election in Rivers State, Professor Charles Adias, suspended the collation of results over alleged threats to life.

Prof. Adias who is  the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University, Otuoke in Bayelsa State, said this at the resumption of collation at the INEC Headquarters in Port Harcourt , saying the threats were from supporters of an anonymous political party.

He stated, “I have been receiving threat messages and calls to my life and that of my family for two days now. My picture is all over the social media that I was sent to rig the elections in Rivers State.”

Does this mean that the Vice Chancellor’s appointment is for election rigging?

Most of the elections results were announced by different Vice Chancellors of Government Universities.

 Professorship is the highest level attained in the academic field, Just as Generals  in the Army. There are different levels one will attain before he could finally become a professor and this must have come with lot of studies, researches, knowledge of general understanding from different field of studies . This simply means  Professors must be vast in knowledge. Also, they must have had about  ten years experience in the Professorship before lobbying or being appointed as the Vice Chancellor. It is based on these achievements , and  trust that are saddled with the responsibilities of collating and announcing the election results, which is a fragile task. 

Moreover, this   fragile task determines the hope and destiny of a Nation , that should not be toyed with.

According to Prof. Charles statement over his reaction to the threats he received from the anonymous political party supporters. “My picture is all over the social media that I was sent to rig the elections in Rivers State.”

ASUU Strike, has been an annual academic anniversary. Since when the Vice Chancellors, Principals of Universities are being used to manipulate election results, it is pathetic that this incident of  Vice Chancellors manipulating results for the politicians has been backfiring them, as well as other thousands of lecturers serving them and millions of Nigerian Students , who are not involved in the election manipulation, for staying at home when the academic session should be ongoing. (Although, it is not all the Vice Chancellors and Professors that are guilty of the allegations, but most are).

Does this mean that the Vice Chancellor’s appointment is for election rigging? What is the major aim of government being in charge of Vice Chancellors’ appointment? When the best way of choosing  vice chancellors should be by election amongst the lecturers , as they know the most capable ones and the incapable ones, where as the incapables can sometimes be chosen by the government who knows nothing about the capability of this chosen vice chancellors. The appointment can only go to the loyal professors, for the selfish interest of the government.

In February 2022,  the University lecturers embarked on strike which mostly comes annually. The said ASUU strike lasted for over eight months, during this period, the Osun State Gubernatorial election was held and the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Toyin Ogundipe was called to announce the election results; his positive response was a huge disappointment, due to the ongoing ASUU strike. Some may say he answered a call to his appointment,but his primary assignment is to lecture students on Campus as a lecturer and this positioned him to be appointed as the Vice Chancellor. 

Till date, it is not certain that any lecturer or ASUU executive  of any chapter at the state or National level, that has openly condemned this betraying act. It will never be a surprise if the National Chairman of ASUU dumps the precious pressure group chairmanship for an appointment by the Federal Government, this is a shame in the Academic industry.

Therefore, the vice chancellors and other professors should live an exemplary life that should prove them as learned and capable of leading in an academic and formal setting. They are expected to use their experiences to better the society in order to improve  the Nation’s building . “ If professors cannot stop the corruption, it is a shame that nothing has been achieved in their lines of duty to solving societal problems.”

Ojo Busuyi writes from Benin