Professorship: Ganduje demands apology, sanction of faculty member who issued controversial letter

Kano State government has demanded an apology from the management of East Carolina University over a controversial appointment offered Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje into the position of Senior Mentoring Scholar and Visiting Full Professor of e-governance and International Affairs in the university.

It would be recalled that the American university which Governor Ganduje claimed gave him the professorial title had since denied that he was appointed as a visiting professor.

The East Carolina University (ECU) said the letter Ganduje got from Victor Mbarika, a member of the institution’s faculty was unauthorised by the appropriate officials.

However, a statement by the Secretary to the Kano State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Alhaji also called for a disciplinary action against Mbarika who stirred up the controversy which attempted to embarrass the governor and the good people of Kano State.

According to him, while the governor or any of official of his government has no any reason to doubt the veracity of the letter sent by one of its faculty members, which was communicated using the university’s instrument of office, it equally did not at any time solicit for such appointment.

“We are deeply saddened by the uproar stirred up by this controversial appointment that attempted to embarrass the person of the governor and the good people of Kano State,” the statement added.

Alhaji Usman also disclosed that Governor Ganduje obtained a National Certificate in Education (NCE) 1972, a Bachelor’s Degree in Science Education from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, 1975; two Master’s Degrees in Applied Educational Psychology from Bayero University, Kano (BUK) 1979; and Public Administration also from ABU 1985, as well as a PhD which he obtained nearly three decades ago from the University of Ibadan in South West, Nigeria.

The SSG said that given this background as an academic of repute, the governor would be the last person on earth to have neither solicit nor accept fraudulent appointment into academic position in any university or institution of higher learning within and outside Nigeria.

While wishing the university the best of luck, the statement expressed deep shock over the content of the letter from the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University, admitting an error in conveying the message notifying the appointment.

It would also be recalled the governor’s spokesman, Abba Anwar, had told journalists in Kano on Tuesday that the governor’s appointment was contained in a letter sent to him by the school through Mbarika, a lecturer of International Center for IT and Development at East Carolina University College of Business on November 30.

The university confirmed that Mr Mbarika was its faculty member but said he had no authority to make such appointment.

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