The Pro-Chancellor of the Admiralty University, Ibuzor, Delta State, Dele Ezeoba, has resigned his position as the Chairperson of the university governing council over the contentious appointment of the vice-chancellor.

Mr Ezeoba, a retired vice-admiral and Nigeria’s former Chief of Naval Staff, confirmed his resignation to PREMIUM TIMES on Saturday.

He said his decision to resign was due to the ongoing controversy around the VC selection in the university.

“It’s true. I am done and dusted. I’ve moved on,” he told our reporter via telephone.

The Cable quoted parts of his resignation letter addressed to the Ministry of Education as reading: “I pride myself in the ethos of truth, fairness, equity, transparency, and justice as the fundamental principles of purposeful leadership.

“The reason for this unforeseen decision is the controversy arising from the negation of a transparent and merit-based interview process leading to the selection and appointment of a substantive vice-chancellor.”

The university has since last week been enmeshed in a controversy regarding the selection of a vice-chancellor.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how some members of the university council in the absence of Mr Ezeoba, then the council chair, appointed the candidate who came second place in the recruitment process —Christopher Ogbogbo, a professor— as the vice-chancellor.

Mr Ezeoba said the selection must be based on merit and, therefore, protested the decision and petitioned the Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa.

In response, Mr Alausa reversed Mr Ogbogbo’s appointment and approved the appointment of Lucian Chukwu, also a professor, who came first in the recruitment process.

However, the university has defied the minister’s directive by issuing a letter of appointment to Mr Ogbogbo and a memo to the university community, informing them of Mr Ogbogbo’s appointment and imminent assumption of office.

Meanwhile, the university has maintained that it had not violated any laws as it was not bound by law to select the candidate who emerged first in the selection process.

In a statement by its Registrar and Secretary to the university council, Isaac Mankilik, a retired commodore, the university said the selection of a vice-chancellor is “by selection and not based on marks awarded by the Joint Selection Board”.

The university noted that the only criterion was that the selected candidate be one of the three recommended candidates.