By Ikeddy ISIGUZO
TENSION has gripped students and staff of Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu- Alaike, AE-FUNAI, as the Governing Council meets over the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor of the 14-year-old university that was re-named after former Vice-President Dr. Alex Ekwueme when he passed in 2018.
Contentions are mounting over the academic records of one of the contenders who a group that called itself Concerned Academic Staff of AE-FUNAI, said, lacked clarity.
Past Vice Chancellors of AE-FUNAI – .Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo Obe: The pioneer Vice Chancellor of the university from 2011-2016.
Professor Chinedum Nwajiuba: The second substantive Vice Chancellor, whose five-year tenure ended on 10 February 2021.
Professor Sunday Oge Elom: The third and current substantive Vice Chancellor, who assumed office on 11 February 2021. His tenure will end on 10 February 2026. They are all renowned scholars in their various fields.
The successor that the Council would appoint from its meeting of Monday 1 December 2025 which will short-list finalists, is expected to continue with AE-FUNAI’s image promoted on its website thus, “In AE-FUNAI, the academic environment is an avenue for aggregating lateral thinking, where staff and students, through innovation and creativity, are doing things in different ways and in new ways, developing new ideas and concepts, and breaking boundaries and frontiers that are holding the nation down”. Currently, there are more than 30 candidates in the race to succeed Prof Elom. The petition dated 14 November 2025 reads:
REQUEST TO DISQUALIFY PROFESSOR ABEL EBEH EZEOHA FROM THE SELECTION PROCESS FOR APPOINTMENT OF THE VICE-CHANCELLOR OF AE-FUNAI Our Dear Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Governing Council, Sir, thank you for your forthrightness and passion in handling the affairs of our dear university.
As you prepare to appoint the next Vice Chancellor of AE-FUNAI, we feel that you and your eminent team members need some relevant information on some candidates that are being foisted on the system. The one candidate in view here is Professor Abel Ebeh Ezeoha (immediate past DVC – Administration).
Educational level attainment is a very good example of ordinal data. Ordinal data are categorical data that have a natural order or ranking. This order or ranking is significant in the Nigerian University system, the order is clear and straightforward.
O’Level, BA/BSc, MA/MSc and PhD.Chairman, let us assume as claimed by Prof Ezeoha that he got his PhD in 2008 and became a Professor in 2016. He then went to obtain a BSc in 2016 with children whose highest qualification is O’Level. This defeats the natural order which is significant in educational attainment.
Professor Ezeoha has: HND in Business Administration/Management – 1997 PGD – 2002 MBA – 2001/2002 PhD in Banking and Finance – 2008/2009 BSc in Economics – 2015/2016 The implications of the above progression are: Professor Ezeoha had no BSc and MSc when he began teaching in the university.
He has no academic foundation to teach and become a Professor in Banking and Finance. Besides, MBA is not a research/academic degree. It is meant for people who want a career in Business and industry.
You cannot teach research oriented courses as done in the University with an MBA. No wonder, AE-FUNAI insists on MSc/MA and not MBA as a qualification for employment. He had his BSc in 2016, the same year he was made professor at EBSU, a thing unheard of in the Nigerian system!
It is also important to stress here that the Vice Chancellor is head of Congregation. You cannot head the Congregation if you are not qualified to be a member of Congregation. A critical look at Prof Ezeoha’s BSc certificate shows that he is a graduate of University of Ibadan Distance Learning Centre (UIDLC).
Information from UIDLC reveals that Prof Ezeoha repeated a session because he did not meet the cumulative units required for the award of degree in Economics. As a result, he deliberately removed the date of graduation from the certificate.
The original certificate should be compared with the one in his file in the University ASM to see the discrepancy. In 2019, Prof Ezeoha was appointed a Professor in EBSU (Ebonyi State University). That same year he applied to join AE-FUNAI.
He was assessed and appointed a Professor in AE-FUNAI in 2019. His appointment was later backdated to 2016 for no justifiable reason but to give him undue advantage.
PRAYER Chairman Sir, it is obvious that the progression of Professor Ezeoha’s certifications runs contrary to standard procedures in the Nigerian university system. We consequently pray that you use your good offices to disqualify him from the process as a candidate for the esteemed office of the Vice-Chancellor of AE-FUNAI.
Thank you,
Sir. Signed: Concerned Academic Staff of AE-FUNAI Efforts to speak to Professor Ezeoha, a former Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, of AE-FUNAI, were unsuccessful.
His phone was off, each time we called on Sunday 30 November 2025. He also did not reply to messages left for him as sms text and on WhatsApp. “The petition is to save the uinversity,” a Professor in AE-FUNAI said.
“We cannot keep quiet when a contender in the race has qualifications that the sequence cannot be explained. It is now left to the Governing Council to save our young university.
“Let whoever is appointed be qualified, someone that would earn the university respect, someone who would elevate the image of the school.”
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