Prof Godwin Onu, Rector Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Is Unfit To Be Rector , Says Oko Community

           
This is bad , says Jonathan  
















Had I known, I won't listen to this half bakes around me

Even me attacked by my own subjects because of what?

I don't care what they say, my interest first
 

The Hatchet Man for Offor's interest
?
Trying to resolve the Federal Polytechnic Oko puzzle as it is now a mess having given re-appointment six months before expiration?

As the avoidable mayhem in Oko Community, Anambra State is festering; both the authorities of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko and the host community show no signs of sheathing their swords. A petition to President Goodluck Jonathan, calling for the sack of Prof. Godwin Onu as rector underscores the searing heat between the town and the gown. ENO-ABASI SUNDAY writes as posted by odogwuemekaodogwu.com 


ON a visit to RUTAM House, corporate home of The Guardian, the people of Oko community from Orumba North council area of Anambra State, remain strident in their call for the removal of Prof. Godwin Onu, as rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko. 
  Only recently, they were calling on President Goodluck Jonathan not to re-appoint Onu for, allegedly facilitating avoidable mayhem, militarizing their community and generally causing them immense discomfort.
   Having lost out, (as Onu got re-appointed by the President for another four-year term), they have engaged a higher gear in their bid to rid the community of the school helmsman. 
  According to the National President of the Oko Peoples Union (OPU), Cyprian Ike Nwammuo, “Since the inception of the Federal Polytechnic Oko, we have never had any problem with the head of that institution except Prof Onu. So people with inquisitive minds would want to find out what is peculiar to the current rector.
  Represented by the National Legal Adviser of the OPU, Uchenna Okonkwo-Okom, Nwammuo said, “We have never had an Oko indigenes as rector and we are not demanding for one right now. But we don’t want Onu’s tenure renewed.”
  Told that the Federal Government has done that already, he retorted, “We want the government to cancel it because the so-called renewal of tenure was done in error and we are sure President Goodluck Jonathan was not aware of the purported renewal.
  “We are saying so because the re-appointment was done about six months before the expiration of his first tenure, which was on March 4, 2014. For Prof. Onu to have been re-appointed without due consultations with stakeholders in Oko community, including Dr. Alex Ekuweme, who founded the polytechnic in his village, in his youth, with his sweat, long before he assumed public office, long before he became Nigeria’s Vice President, we believe that Dr. Ekuweme has clearly been mistreated by the Federal Government. That is why we are calling on the Federal Government not to confirm the purported re-appointment. If it goes ahead to confirm it, it would amount to being unfair to the people of Oko community, who have not been carried along.”
  Also in the two-man team on the visit to The Guardian was Emeka Aginam, a representative of OPU Lagos branch chairman.
   “One of the primary considerations for appointing people into such a high office is their capacity to operate peacefully, freely and without hitches in the environment they have been posted to. Prof. Onu has failed to operate in this manner in his place of primary assignment. He is at daggers drawn with senior staff association, non-academic and academic staff of the institution and his host community. So we are saying that government would gain nothing by foisting such a person on a community and school, where he has lost friendship, credibility and where he has been rejected,” Nwammuo submitted.
  He continued, “It is difficult to understand any other factor that has come into play in the purported re-appointment of Prof. Onu other than the infamous Nigerian factor. We have petitioned Mr. President because we strongly believe that the Nigerian factor came into play here. So, we are urging Mr. President to take a second look at the purported re-appointment. 
 In a May 6, 2014 to Jonathan, through the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Chief Doyin Okupe, titled, “Request for Urgent Presidential Intervention to Forestall an Unfolding Dangerous Trend of Indiscriminate Arming of Our Youths, Continued Violence, Undue Provocation, Intimidation, Threat to Peace, to Life and Property, Victimization, Corruption, Impunity and Surreptitious Plot to Relocate Federal Polytechnic Oko by the Rector, Professor Godwin Onu… and Lack of Due Process in the Appointment of the Council of the Polytechnic, the community reeled out a gamut of sins, which Onu has allegedly committed since taking the reins. 
  Signed for and on behalf of the entire Oko community by Nwammuo, the petition read in part, “The undersigned on behalf of Oko Peoples Union (OPU), the umbrella organisation of Oko Community of Orumba North council area of Anambra State, on behalf of the entire community, the Council of Chiefs, the elders, and the traditional ruler of Oko community, Igwe (Professor) Laz E.N. Ekwueme, NNOM, OON, the EzeIjikala II of Oko, are constrained to invite Your Excellency, to intervene in several unbecoming acts, incidents and dangerous sequence of events in our community that have continued to undermine the peaceful coexistence and have predictable tendencies that are currently fuelling further acts of violence and creating an uncontrollable atmosphere and threat to human lives and total breakdown of law and order. All these are due to the condemnable acts traceable to Prof. Onu, who is currently arming and inciting some renegade youths of the community against the town for daring to oppose his second term bid after the expiration of the first on March 4, 2014.”
  “This invitation is with particular reference to the mayhem in the community on Saturday, April 19, 2014, when a group of boys, numbering over 27, with arms and other dangerous weapons, shooting indiscriminatingly, chanting war songs, invaded Ekwueme’s palace and engaged in wanton destruction of everything in sight. They unleashed mayhem, vandalised and looted all valuable property, personal effects and cash running into millions of naira. Three vehicles were burnt in the palace alone. 
  “Igwe’s dwelling house was broken into and everything within it either looted or destroyed. The other two buildings, one of which is the palace of the former Igwe, late Igwe Justus Ekwueme, within the premises, in addition to the gate house and the perimeter fence, were all badly damaged, vandalised and all the glass windows were smashed. One of them was shouting orders that they drag the Igwe out and kill him but fortunately for Oko community, the Igwe had managed to escape through a backdoor before their arrival. His wife, Prof. Lucy Ekwueme, was not as lucky as she sustained deep cut on her feet while attempting to scale the fence.
  “After the destruction and looting, the group marched through Oko down to Amaokpala, a neighbouring town burning, attacking, destroying and looting everything on their way, beating up innocent indigenes and eventually looting a shop belonging to the undersigned. They eventually arrived the premises of Pekky Mega Motel, Amaokpala, belonging to one Mr. Chukwudi Nwankwor, a prominent member of Oko Town Union. They set the entire hotel, ablaze, emptied the fishpond. The hotel structure alone is worth over N45m.”
  While regretting that no single arrest has been made by the state police command, in spite of the fact that the perpetrators are known to all, including the police, “It is pertinent to also note that the police had every opportunity to stop the few insurgents, or scare them when they marched through the centre of the city, but they chose to watch the event. The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Mr. Usman Gwary, had visited the scene and the community had formally reported the case at the Anambra State Police Command Awka, yet, no single arrest has been effected.”
  The community further accused Onu of providing unemployed youths in the community with a brand new Toyota bus with which they run around town for their nefarious and destabilising activities. More worrisome is the fact that in his stand-off with the community, Prof Onu now enjoys the support and protection of the Nigerian Police, while on the other hand, the Igwe Ekwueme has become the subject of verbal attacks by the police.”
 Under the sub-head “Host Community Controversy and Governing Council,” the community said, “The clearest demonstration of Onu’s capacity to generate crisis from nothing, and his penchant for maligning his host community at every slightest opportunity, is this artificial controversy over who is the host community of the school. The Polytechnics Act did not establish Federal Polytechnic, Oko as a multi campus polytechnic. However, Oko community is not opposed to the internal arrangements that authorised the operation of Ufuma and Atani campuses of the institution. In the 22 years the school has existed, none of these ‘campuses’ had considered themselves entitled to contest host community status against Oko community. But in his pursuit of a second term, Onu felt that a representative of Oko community in the Governing Council during the consideration of his re-appointment might militate against his interest. He therefore decided to generate this artificial controversy to, at least delay the emergence of an Oko community representative in the council until after the conclusion of the consideration of his tenure agenda. Today, more than six months after the inauguration of the council, that council is sitting without a representative of the host community. Is this fair? 
  The petition continued, “In spite of all attempts to incite these communities against Oko community and instigate artificial crisis, these communities still have not seen enough reason to take up arms against Oko community over who the host community of school is. Onu is singlehandedly sustaining the controversy. If Enugu with full statutory capacity and legal status of UNEC could not contest the host community status against Nsukka over University of Nigeria Nsukka, how does Ufuma or Atani fare with the peculiar legal status of their ‘campuses’?
  On his alleged non-qualification for the office he holds, the petition stated, “Professor Godwin Onu is not qualified to be a rector in a Polytechnic. His appointment as Rector Federal Polytechnic, Oko ab initio is in error and is in breach of the extant rules guiding the appointment of heads of educational institutions. He is a professor of political science, which is not part of the curricula of a polytechnic. Political science is not a course taught in the polytechnic and he has no business presiding thereat as rector. 
  Having examined the issues and the antecedents leading to the destruction of Oko community and the attendant suppression of the rights and privileges of its citizens in a democratic government the community invited Jonathan to direct as follows: “That the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, and the Anambra State Police Command, carry out their constitutionally assigned duties and responsibilities, by effecting immediate arrest and prosecution of those involved in the attempted murder of Ekwueme, and his wife, and the consequent arson and destruction of property in Oko and Amaokpala communities as the perpetrators of this crime are moving around still armed and dangerous.
  “We urge Mr. President to caution the Inspector General of Police, and the police hierarchy to avoid taking sides in any crisis such as the one that has been contrived in Oko community, no matter who is involved. The police should focus on its constitutionally assigned responsibility without fear or favour.
 “We also invite Mr. President to direct the Minister of Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, to put in motion, the process of constituting the council of the Federal Polytechnic Oko as the process from which the current one emerged was scandalous, lacks merit and therefore unacceptable.
  “We Invite the Minister of Education to also put motion, the process for the appointment of a new rector for the Federal Polytechnic Oko. The tenure of Professor Onu as rector expired on March 4, 2014. The Community has already articulated its opposition to his return bid, and has indicated to the minister that Onu is not qualified to contest as all stakeholders wholly reject his second term. Certainly, government gains nothing foisting a rector on an environment, where he had lost all credibility and acceptability. 
  “We request your Excellency to direct the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to offer an unreserved apology to Oko community for the denigration of the person, and office of the traditional ruler of Oko Town, Prof. Laz Ekwueme, through his unguarded utterances at the Anambra State Security Summit. 
  “In order to forestall further breakdown of law and order and to get to the root causes of the crisis, devoid of media obfuscation, we humbly demand for a Judicial Commission of Inquiry headed by a High Court Judge, serving or retired, with men and women of integrity from the clergy and traditional institution as members, to unravel the whole truth about what is happening in Oko,” they prayed.  
  “Your Excellency, you are the last hope for Oko community in its quest for lasting peace and harmony, which has tragically eluded her since 2010 when one Onu arrived here. Please accept the esteemed regards of our traditional ruler, Igwe Ekwueme and other prominent citizens of our community as we pray for your urgent intervention,” the petition concluded.

Written by ENO-ABASI SUNDAY