The unfolding events at Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University (COOU) have drawn unusual public attention. What began on 18 December 2024 as a botched Senate election to choose three representatives for the Joint Council/Senate Selection Committee has now become a defining test of law, integrity, and institutional honour.
That flawed exercise, conducted under the watch of the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kate Omenugha, was annulled only after the Visitor, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, intervened through the Council Chairman.
A fresh election on 9 July 2025, closely monitored by the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Professor Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, restored credibility to the process. This was followed by the 30–31 July interview of shortlisted candidates by a seven member Selection Committee. At the end, three names emerged in order of merit:
1. Prof. Chike Osegbue (Professor of COOU: 83%)
2. Prof. Leonard Onuba (Professor of COOU:81%)
3. Prof. Chukwudi Onyeaghana Okani (Professor of COOU:78%)
The university is created & governed by the COOU Law of 2014, together with the university Statute & Ordinance.
Under the COOU Law, the appointing authority is the Visitor (State Governor).Ordinance II(4) (d), of the COOU Law requires him to appoint from a list of 3 candidates recommended by Council ‘’in its own order of merit” which it also requires to “recommend the candidate who places first on its own merit to the Visitor for appointment, but shall also include the names of the candidates who placed second and third respectively, justifying its order of merit’’.
It is now open knowledge that the report to the Visitor submitted on 1 August from the interviews of 30-31 July included the names of the top three candidates ranked in order of merit and accompanied by reasoned justification.
In a letter addressed to the Pro-Chancellor & Chairman of Council The Visitor ‘’commended the council for the elaborate and rigorous process (as documented in the Report of the Joint Committee) pursuant to Ordinance 11 of the University Law 2014. The Visitor is satisfied that the process has been transparent and credible’’.
However the letter signed by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Professor Solo Chukwulobelu conveyed the Visitor’s approval of the appointment of the Ag Vice chancellor Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha (who came a distant 5th in the interview with a score of 73%), as the substantive Vice chancellor, citing benchmarks that are alien to the COOU Law 2014.
This staggering violation of the COOU Law has compromised a process that has for the first time in the 25 years history of the university followed a rigorous process that is transparent, credible and fair.
The announcement of this appointment has thrown the university community, staff and students into mourning and public outcry against the imposition of a candidate who was not statutorily before the Visitor. This gross and flagrant abuse of the COOU Law portends danger for an institution where merit as a benchmark is a core value.
The COOU’s reputation as a credible centre of learning has been dragged back 10 years since the coming of Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha as Ag Vice chancellor and this foray into the murky waters of political interference could spell doom for the institution.
This appointment is not only a violation of the university law, it is also against the recommendation of the 2014 Visitation Panel Report, wherein it accepted that “all organs” involved in appointing the Vice Chancellor must “duly and fully comply with the provisions of the University Statute to confer legitimacy on the chosen candidate.” In these circumstances, the person announced as Vice-Chancellor lacks both authority and legitimacy.
The COOU Collectives rejects in its entirety, the flagrant abuse of the COOU Law and calls on the Visitor to uphold merit by appointing the top ranked candidate, in accordance with the University’s statutes and the principles of fairness.
We want to make it clear that we shall not accept the imposition of a candidate who placed 5th in a process adjudged transparent and credible by all including the Visitor himself. And we urge the university community to resist this imposition for the sake of the university, staff, students and the general public.
The COOU law Is clear. The process has been transparent and fair. Merit has spoken. It is time to listen.
By COOU COLLECTIVES
