MEMBERS of the Governing Council of Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike, AE-FUNAI, started meeting on Thursday in the controversial final phase to select a new Vice-Chancellor for the university at the insistence of the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman of Council Dr. Tony Nebo to conclude the process “before Christmas of 2025”.
The Council met in an Abakaliki hotel where the interviews for the shortlisted candidates would also be held instead of the university’s premises in Ndufu-Alike, the venue of all previous such meetings.
A successful candidate would be announced today.
Members of the Council spent most of the week exchanging fiery WhatsApp messages with the Pro-Chancellor/Chairman who they alleged was acting unilaterally.
Some of the messages that Daily Query saw insinuated that the Ebonyi State Government was influencing the process for a preferred candidate.
The Pro-Chancellor/Chairman’s WhatsApp message of Monday 13 December 2025 infuriated Council members:
“Good morning, dear fellow Council members. As the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, I am informing us that our scheduled Council meeting to conclude the selection of a new Vice-Chancellor for AE-FUNAI will hold and concluded before Christmas of 2025. Anything contrary to this arrangement should be ignored.”
“Sir, Chairman the law provides that for there to be a schedule of meetings of the Council at least 5 members must be in agreement, you cannot take a unilateral decision. Please stop embarrassing us the overall opinion is that it should in be January! Again, it looks like you want to disadvantage contestants from other States,” was the first response to the Chairman. Others followed in the same tone.
Another reply read, “Sir, with all due respect to your office. This is dictatorship as it stands. Chairman doesn’t mean you have the right to take decision without considering other Council members. I think you should seek proper guidance”.
The dissent was so much that Dr. Nebo had to explain his visit to Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru in a message titled, TO KEEP THE RECORDS STRAIGHT.
“1. I wrote a letter to the Hon. Minister of Education and informed him, among other things, that we wanted to complete the remaining processes of getting a new VC in Abuja, due to security concerns.
“2. The Minister contacted the Governor of Ebonyi State about the security concerns.
“3. While we were in the hotel during our last Council meeting, the Governor of Ebonyi State, invited me to see him. Hon. Jack Isobo accompanied me to see the Governor.
“4. The Governor told us that he learnt of our security concerns. He assured us that he would provide security for us in Abakaliki.
“5. Because of the long time it is taking to get a new VC, the Minister of Education called me to know what was delaying us.
“6. I informed the Minister that because of the transportation problems during this festive season, we were considering shifting the exercise to mid-January 2026.
“7. The Minister told me that he was sending his representative on Council so that two of us will meet the Governor to sort± out the transportation problem.
“8. At the meeting with the Governor, he promised to help and directed us to the Governor’s Protocol for further actions.”
“A (chartered) aircraft that will fly Council members to Ebonyi will be at the private wing of Abuja airport by 7 am. Departure is 7.30 am,” a message informed Council members who were in Abuja.
Ebonyi State Government reportedly paid for the chartered aircraft and the hotel in Abakaliki.
“Let it be the evidence of the chairman’s desperation to install their preferred candidate,” one of the members said of the chartered aircraft.
“A Council member has advised that we attend the interview which we fear would not be fair,” one of the candidates said.
Daily Query sent messages to Dr. Nebo and called him. He did not respond to the messages. And his phone has been switched off since Wednesday.
