Dr. Andrew Akume is a senior lecturer in the Department of Commercial Law at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. A part from teaching, he is also a practicing lawyer. Highly intelligent, outspoken and with radical views, he had been in the mainstream of decision making process in the institution. He had been Head of Department of Commercial Law twice and had also served as assistant Dean of Law. He was a member of the university’s senate as well as a member of the governing council of the institution, representing the senate.

But of recent, some forces that are not comfortable with radical posture, particularly his insistence on justice, equity and fair play in the handling of issues affecting the university has pitched him against the authorities who are scheming to throw him out of the university. Akume has dragged the authorities of the University before the Federal High Court in Kaduna, challenging his alleged illegal removal from office as Head of Department by the Acting Vice Chancellor of ABU, Prof. Aliyu. In this interview with Senior Correspondent, RANA BAYOK in Kaduna speaks on some of the illegalities and contradictions in the university. Excerpts.

Who is Dr. Andrew Akume?

My name is Dr. Andrew A. Akume. I am a senior lecturer in the Department of Commercial Law, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria. I have been the Head of Department of Commercial Law in the university two times. I was once the assistant Dean of Law; I have been a member of the university senate twice and a member of the governing council of the university, representing the senate. I have put in 14 years of service in the university

I am also a practicing lawyer, which is why I am able to challenge the illegalities that are going on in the university. The management of the institution hates me and would not want me in any position in the university because they feel that I am fighting them.

You were a member of council of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) , Zaria sometimes last year, there this process for the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor for the University, one Prof. Andrew Jonathan Nok was said to have emerged the most qualified person after the interview that was conducted, but some elements in the university were said to have opposed his emergence as the Vice Chancellor of the institution allegedly on the grounds that he is not a Muslim. What actually happened?

The council advertised the vacant position of the Vice Chancellor of the institution that time and nominations came in and an interview panel was set up. The interview panel consisted of the former minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma who as chairman with two members of senate and two members of council, making five members all together. During the interview, Mallam Adamu Ciroma briefed us in the council that the interview was divided into two sections. The first section was based on objective questions; that is assessment of the curricular vitae of candidates which carried 75 percent, the second section is subjective and it carried 25 percent. That is, each member of the interview panel was to score the candidate based on his personal assessment of the individual. When the objective part of the interview was being conducted, Mallam Adamu Ciroma said he is a Muslim and that there were two other Muslim members of the panel, making three Muslims and two Christians. He said in order that there should be balance in the conduct of the interview, he (Ciroma) will not participate. So he asked the two Muslims and the two Christians to score the candidates adding that whatever they agreed on, he will consider it binding on him. So the four candidates proceeded to conduct the interview and they produced a result which was unanimous. He then asked them the panel members whether they agreed on the result and they all said yes. He then said for this reason it is binding on him, so he presented the matter to council and asked the registrar to read the result presented by the interview panel and the result was read out. I want you to note that Adamu Ciroma participated in the subjective part of the interview which carried 25 percent. The scores of each candidate in the objectives and subjective were added together and that was how Prof. Nok who is a Christian from Southern part of Kaduna state, emerged the best candidate.

If he was the best candidate that emerged, why was he he not made the Vice Chancellor?

He was rejected purely on the basis of religious sentiments. Firstly, the day we met in the council to appointment the Vice Chancellor, the former vice chancellor tabled a security report that he got from the security coordinator, one A. S Oguche, who incidentally is an Idoma man who converted to Islam. They produced a security report claiming that the result of the interview which Nok top the list, had leaked and there celebrations in churches and in Christian homes around and that the Muslim community was agitated and feeling embarrassed that the Christians were laughing at them and that based on that if Nok is announced as Vice Chancellor, the Muslims will not agree and it will generate some crisis in the university. Besides, the registrar of the university claimed that myself and some of my Christian counterparts on the council and Nok were sponsored by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and that we are arranging to promote a the agenda of CAN to take over ABU for CAN and Southern Kaduna People. Other members of council started claiming that the result was rigged; this is what I know during that time when I was a member of council.

Why were you removed as the Head of Department, Commercial Law, what was the reason for your removal?

There was this Catholic Church in Congo Campus of ABU; it was demolished for a more befitting structure, but some of my colleagues in the Faculty of Law, who wrote a petition against the director of the Institute of Administration Congo, Prof. Karisu Chukol, accusing him of not being a good Muslim for allowing the Christians to build their chapel. They also said if that chapel is build, it will bring crisis to the university. So some of us challenged these lecturers on these issues. What they did was to go and fabricate a letter against me claiming that we are going to unleash terror in the university if we are not allowed to build the chapel. In the first place, I am not a catholic, I am a Pentecostal Christian. But this is an issue that concerns all of us Christians and some of us feel that our catholic brothers too are entitle to have their own chapel. So because of that protest, they now wrote me a letter, saying that I am causing religious riot and disharmony in the campus and because of that I am not qualified to be a Head of Department. The Vice Chancellor, in violation with of agreement between the Academic Staff Union of Universities(ASUU) and the federal government that Heads of Departments should be elected, wrote a letter that he has removed me because, according to him, I am a religious fanatic.

I learnt you are one of those that have dragged the university authorities to court.

I decided to sue the Vice Chancellor for the court to determine whether or not the vice Chancellor has powers to remove an elected Head of Department. As you know, I am a member of ASUU and ASUU signed an agreement with the federal government that Heads of Departments and Deans should be elected. I was elected and I want the court to determined whether or not, the university can violate this agreement between the Federal government and ASUU by removing an elected Head of Department. We held the hearing today (March 18, 2010) and the matter had been adjourned for Judgment.

They have been plotting against me for long. For instance they fabricated the Letter Head of my department, scanned my signature and produced an inciting letter and told the university community that I wrote it. This is an orchestrated conspiracy to tarnish my image to remove me from office as Head of Department.

Dr Bashir Ibrahim and Dr. Auwal Ahmed wrote a petition insisting that the catholic chapel should not be build, they also accused Prof. Karisu Chikol of not being a good Muslim for allowing the building of the chapel. Does this not constitute threat to peace and stability in the university? The Muslim Forum in the university issued a bulletin in which they insisted that ABU belongs to Muslims and that and if a vice chancellor that is not a Muslim is appointed, they are ready to defend it with the last drop of their blood. Why is it that these people have not been charge for inciting religious disturbance in the university? I have written a petition to the university on this and I have copied all the relevant authorities in the country, requesting that this matter be investigated.

ABU is a very reputable university, why do you think religious sentiments have taking the centre stage in the institution?

This kind of sentiment is all over the place. You can see the Jos crisis, sentiments are involved. There are killings and counter killings. There were religious killings that also happened in Bauchi and Maiduguri. This thing is a global issue, especially the issue of religious terrorism. On Christmas day last year we saw a young man who wanted to blow an air craft carrying many people.

What is the solution to this?

Universities are supposed to be citadels of academic activities and should not be infected with the virus of religious sentiments and other forms of discriminations and divisive tendencies. Federal Universities must accommodate all. State governments and local communities where federal universities are located should not interfere with the running of federal institutions. Because the federal government has been weak over the year, allowing local communities to feel that because a university is cited in their environment, it is their birth right to determine who gets what, then we will continue to have this type of problem.

Furthermore, so long as government does not fish out those behind religious fanatism and deal with them, we will never know peace because there are some people in this country who believe that it is their right to kill in the name of religion and they are doing service to God when they slaughter human beings.

Such type of people, especially those behind the Jos crisis, if they are not exposed and dealt with by the federal government, other people in the class of killers will continue to do it. Government must be decisive.

I learnt that some people in the university have gone to court to challenge the membership of the Acting Vice Chancellor and the registrar in the council.

The acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Aliyu Mohammed is a retired professor and under the university miscellaneous provision Act 1993, ABU is one of the institutions affected by that law. The law provides that once a university lecturer reaches 65 years, he has to retire. Prof. Mohamed has retired. The public service rules and regulations require that if a public servant retires and is re-engaged, he should be re-engaged on a rank that is immediately below the rank he held while in service. So the rank immediately below the rank of professor is that of reader. The last acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Umoh engaged the services of Prof. Aliyu Mohammed as an associate professor. The position of Acting Vice Chancellor is reserved for serving professors. Retired Prof. Aliyu Mohammed is not a serving professor. His status in the university is that of associate professor. The (former) minister of education, Dr. Sam Egwu wrote him to vacate the office but he refused to vacate because he is a Zaria man. All efforts by the governing council Chairman, Ambassador Bunu Sheriff Musa to make him vacate office proves abortive.

The registrar will 60 years on April 4, 2010 by public service rules and university regulations, he is supposed to compulsorily retire on that April 4, 2010. Our university regulations require that, 28 days to April 4, he should proceed on compulsory leave. The man has refused to go and rather he has applied to the council requesting that he should be retained as acting registrar so that he can participate in the appointment of the Vice Chancellor. The issue is this: the acting Vice Chancellor and the Registrar are all from Zaria local government. They want to produce another Zaria man as Vice Chancellor, that is why they are refusing to go. Their stay in the council is completely illegal that is why some people have gone to court to challenge them and to stop them from participating in the appointment of the Vice Chancellor.

I learnt that people have already applied for the position of the Vice Chancellor but the Christian community in the university resolved that no Christian should apply for the position. Why do you thing such stand was taken?

There was a meeting of the Joint Chapels Committee (JCC) on the campus. It is the body that is responsible coordinating the Christian community in the university. They met and decided that in so far as Prof. Andrew Jonathan Nok came first and due to religious discrimination, he was not appointed and the fact that council is now consisting of 90 percent Hausa/ Fulani Muslims who were manipulated into the council and senate through distortion of the law, the Christian community came to the conclusion that there is a deliberate move to sidelined them and based on that, they decided nobody who is a Christian in the university should participate in the appointment of the vice chancellor, because even if they participate, they will never get it even if they come first hundred times, so long as the powers that be insists that they don’t want a Christian to be vice chancellor in the university. This view, to be fair to the Muslim community, there are a few Muslims who believe that this thing is wrong and they believe that the process should be transparent and whoever merits the position should be appointed in the interest of peaceful coexistent. These few are the ones that, together with some Christians went to court because the action I am telling you is not only by Christians. It is a joint effort of some understanding and patriotic Muslims and Christians that went to court to challenge the process that frustrated Prof. Nok from emerging as Vice Chancellor in ABU

ENDS