Kano govt asks US university to apologise to Ganduje over controversial appointment

The Kano State Government has called on the management of East Carolina University to apologise to the state Governor, Abdulahi Ganduje over the controversial appointment offered him.

Governor Ganduje was reportedly offered an appointment by the American university to the position of Senior Mentoring Scholar and Visiting Full Professor of e-governance and International Affairs in the university on November 30, 2020.

The spokesman to Governor Ganduje, Abba Anwar, had on Tuesday said the governor’s appointment was contained in a letter sent to him by the school through a lecturer of the International Centre for IT and Development, Victor Mbarika, at the university’s College of Business on November 30.

However, the university’s Interim Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr Grant Hayes, in a letter to Ganduje, dated December 4, 2020, titled, ‘Re: Unavailability of Faculty Appointment,’ read: “I must inform you that that the letter you received from Dr Victor Mbarika on November 30, 2020 does not convey an authorised offer of appointment or establish any position of scholar or professor at East Carolina University.”

The state government, in its reaction on Sunday in a statement issued and signed by the Secretary to the Kano State Government, Alhaji Usman Alhaji, called for a disciplinary action against the faculty member, who stirred the controversy, in an attempt to embarrass the governor and the good people of the state.

Read also: We did not appoint Governor Ganduje visiting Professor –American University

According to the state government, while the Governor or any official of the government had no reason to doubt the veracity of the letter sent by one of its faculty members, which was communicated, using the university’s instrument of office, it equally did not at any time solicit for such appointment.

“We are deeply saddened by the uproar, ignited by this controversial appointment, in an attempt, to embarrass the person of the governor and the good people of Kano State,” the statement read in part.

The SSG further stated that Governor Ganduje obtained a National Certificate in Education in 1972, a Bachelor’s Degree in Science Education from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1975; two Masters Degrees in Applied Educational Psychology from Bayero University, Kano 1979; and Public Administration also from ABU 1985, as well as a Ph.D. which he obtained about three decades ago from the University of Ibadan in South-West, Nigeria.

According to him, given his background, the governor would not have accepted a fraudulent appointment into academic position in any university or institution of higher learning within and outside Nigeria.

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