The appointment of an acting Registrar in the University of Abuja is currently causing unrest for the embattled Governing Council of the institution.
The tenure of Yahya Mohammed, the incumbent Registrar, will expire on November 11 but on Tuesday the University announced Mrs Islamiyat Fayoke Abdulrahim as Acting Registrar until appointment of a substantive one.
However, sources said there have been spirited attempts to reverse the appointment.
One of the top management staff of the University said: “First, the Pro-Chancellor, Air Vice Marshal Sadiq Isma’ila Kaita, who had chaired the meeting that ratified the appointment of Abdulrahim, hastily summoned another extraordinary meeting yesterday evening and tried to annul the earlier appointment.”
He was said to have stoutly resisted by members of the Council, and the meeting ended in a deadlock.
There are also speculations that the Council Chairman is being influenced by two professors and former deans of the university’s Law faculty, who are working for one of the candidates for the vacant Vice chancellor’s job.
It was gathered further that a former chief executive of a federal agency, and who is believed to enjoy the support of the Council Chairman, is not comfortable with Mrs Abdulrahim as acting registrar, “because she’s upright and apolitical, hence not likely to do anyone’s bidding.”
Another source said: “Council Chairman had tried to get the tenure of the outgoing Registrar extended but was rebuffed by the Council.
“Mr. Mohammed, the outgoing Registrar, has been openly partisan, having pitched his tent with the group that enjoys the support of the Chairman.
“The appointment of Mrs Abdulrahim was warmly received in the university. Any attempt to change it will plunge the university into crisis. Already, there are growing dissatisfaction with the style of the Council Chairman, fueling accusations of incompetence, inconsistency and ethnic and regional biases. The Council itself is gradually becoming embattled and crisis-prone.”
