The recent rebuttal issued by the Management of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, regarding the redeployment of its Bursar and the alleged “resolution” of its administrative crisis, is an aberration in institutional gaslighting.
By attempting to scapegoat a single principal officer for systemic failures, Vice-Chancellor Professor Eunice Omonzeje has not only insulted the intelligence of the university’s stakeholders but has inadvertently spotlighted the vacuum of leadership at the very top.
The Signatory Fallacy: A Shared Pen, a Single Blame
Management’s attempt to pin salary delays exclusively on the former Bursar, Dr. Sadiq Akor, collapses under the weight of basic administrative law. In the Nigerian university system, the Vice-Chancellor and the Bursar are joint signatories to the institution’s accounts.
If the ₦1 billion bailout fund sat idle while staff languished without pay, the question is not just why the Bursar failed to compute figures, but why the Chief Executive Officer—the “Captain of the Ship”—watched the vessel sink for weeks without intervention.
To claim the VC was a helpless bystander to her own Bursar’s alleged incompetence is either an admission of gross negligence or a calculated concealment of the truth.
Ambrose Alli University is governance by Decree, and bypassing the Council is an aberration. The crisis at AAU is not merely financial; it is constitutional. Now, a pattern of authoritarianism has emerged where established university organs are routinely bypassed.
The creation of an unauthorized “Office of Budget Monitoring and Contract Evaluation” serves no purpose other than to undermine the Governing Council’s existing committees. Yet, serious allegations persist regarding the bypassing of the Minor Works Committee and the University Council in the awarding of contracts for everything from convocation gowns to perimeter fencing.
When a Vice-Chancellor allows a baseless query to be issued to a Registrar for simply implementing Council decisions, it signals a total breakdown of the collegial governance that defines a world-class academic institution.
The Transparency Gap: Where is the Interest?
The most damning silence from the Management concerns the “fixing” of the ₦1 billion bailout fund. While Management boasts of its eventual disbursement, they have failed to provide a transparent account of where that money sat between receipt and payment.
In a climate where transparency is a mandate, any suspicion that public intervention funds were placed in high-interest accounts for private or unauthorized gain must be met with more than a frivolous and lack of factual defense. It requires an independent forensic audit. Even the bail out funds sent by the governor, the Vice Chancellor is currently carrying out selective payment of the bailout arrears, according to bursary source.
A Crisis of Character and Command
Leadership is not merely about holding a title; it is about the temperament to lead. Reports of the Vice-Chancellor convening private meetings at the Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s residence to lobby union members against the Bursar paint a picture of a desperate administration, not a stable one.
Furthermore, the VC’s own purported admission at ASUU meetings regarding an “unforgiving spirit” suggests that the friction within the management team is personal rather than professional. A university cannot be governed by the whims of a leader who views administrative checks and balances as personal affronts.
The Buck Stops at the Top
You cannot prune the branches and expect the rot in the trunk to disappear. Any indictment of the Bursar that does not equally scrutinize the Vice-Chancellor—who is the administrative and legal head of the institution—is a charade.
”We call on the Visitor to the University, the Edo State Government, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to look past the polished press releases.
“AAU is in a state of administrative cardiac arrest. To save the institution, the investigation must start at the very top. The public will no longer accept a narrative where the boss takes the credit for funding but shifts the blame for failure, concerned Stakeholders of Ambrose Alli University quipped.