A coalition of concerned citizens has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to intervene in the appointment process that brought a new Vice Chancellor for the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), levelling serious allegations of academic fraud and political manipulation against Professor Simon Ortuanya.
In an open letter addressed to the President and was made available to Spear News, the group, operating under the banner of Concerned Nigerians, Education Stakeholders, and Defender of Academic Integrity, accused Prof. Ortuanya of leveraging his previous political positions to acquire a professorial title he did not legitimately earn.
The letter, signed by Comrade James Ezema, describes UNN as “the flagship citadel of higher learning in Nigeria — a hallowed sanctuary where scholarly excellence has long served as both tradition and torchlight.” It is this revered legacy, the stakeholders argue, that is now under grave threat.
The core of the allegation centres on what the group termed a “curious academic ascent.” They claim Prof. Ortuanya made an unprecedented leap from the position of Lecturer I at UNN to a full Professor at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), bypassing the essential ranks of Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor.
“It is alleged that he resigned from UNN not in pursuit of greener pastures, but as an escape from academic evaluation that would not have favoured him,” the letter states. “Had he remained at UNN, sources suggest, the highest achievable rank today would, at best, have been Senior Lecturer. The alleged backdoor professorship awarded by ESUT — where he reportedly had influence through political corridors — is troubling and calls for thorough vetting.”
The group further questioned the professor’s academic output, pointing to an alleged lack of visibility in scholarly circles. “The claim within the academic quarters that Prof. Ortuanya has only about 10 journal publications, with none appearing on Google Scholar or other popularly recognised indexing services, raises the very real question of invisibility in the academic world,” the stakeholders noted.
They added, “Even more puzzling, his name is conspicuously absent in the Directory of full Nigerian Professors compiled by the National Universities Commission (NUC) as at 2021, which remains the standard official listing of Nigeria’s academic elite. Is he, then, a professor only in title but not in fact?”
Beyond the academic credentials, the letter raises what it calls “allegations of misconduct and abuse of office” from Prof. Ortuanya’s time in public service. “Of equal great concern are allegations that while serving as Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ortuanya was dismissed ignominiously over issues bordering on fraud — serious enough for then-Governor Sullivan Chime to bar him from government premises.”
The coalition contends that if these allegations are true, Nigeria would be facing “not only an academic scandal, but an ethical catastrophe — the potential imposition of a Vice-Chancellor with a record of compromised public service, now angling to lead a foremost academic institution.”
In a direct appeal to President Tinubu, whom they described as “the father of the nation and Grand Patron of Education,” the stakeholders made three key requests.
They urged him to “direct the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Universities Commission to immediately investigate the academic credentials, professional history, and processes surrounding Prof. Ortuanya’s alleged professorial appointment.”
They also called on the President to “ensure that the process of appointing the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka is transparent, merit-based, and free from political interference,” and to “defend the sanctity of our higher education system by ensuring that only those who embody academic excellence, integrity, and demonstrable service to the university system can aspire to lead institutions like UNN.”
The letter concludes with a powerful warning: “The nation is watching. The academic community, including the students are watching. And posterity, as always, will ask what you did — when the temples of knowledge stood vulnerable to politicisation and silent compromise.”
Discussion about this post