According to SaharaReporters, seven professors at the Federal University Otuoke, Ogbia, Bayelsa State, have been demoted from the title to the lecturer grade level by the institution.
According to a source at the media department of institution, who offered no further clarification, the Governing Council of FUO made the decision on Tuesday at its 10th meeting
Among those stripped of their professorship are Leonard Shilgba of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics; Steve Nwabuzor of the Department of Civil, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and Sepribo Lawson-Jack of the Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering.
Others are Obalade Falade, Department of Banking and Finance; Marcellina Offoha, Department of Sociology and Anthropology; Evans Eze, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Felina Nwadike, Department of English and Communication Studies.
SaharaReporters gathered that Eze, Nwadike, Shilgba and Nwabuzor had been at loggerheads with the Vice Chancellor, Accra Jaja, since he assumed office. The quartet were said to have received threat letters due to their stance against the VC’s style of running the institution.
A source at the VC’s offfice said the demotion was a “witch-hunt to get them to leave the university with humiliation”. The source added that the same council had nominated Professor Nwabuzor to be on a panel to investigate job racketeering.
Meanwhile, the Governing Council has approved the appointment of two principal officers for the university: Professor Felicia Etim, who has been appointed as the University Librarian and CSP Rosalyn Biobaragha (rtd) as the Chief Security Officer.