*When Universities Become Laboratories For Illegality
By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
What is unfolding at the University of Abuja (now Yakubu Gowon University) is not a routine disagreement over succession. It is a profound governance crisis that strikes at the heart of legality, academic integrity, and public trust in Nigeria’s university system.
Alarmingly, the institution is being turned into a laboratory for testing how far illegality can be stretched when political power, professional solidarity, and administrative convenience converge.
At the centre of this controversy are the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa, and the Pro-Chancellor, Dr. Olanrewaju Adeyemi Tejuoso (both medical doctors), who have overseen the appointment of another medical doctor, Professor Hakeem Fawehinmi, as substantive Vice-Chancellor in apparent defiance of law, regulation, and binding judicial authority.
That all three principal actors are medical doctors may not, in itself, constitute wrongdoing; however, in the context of an appointment so visibly tainted by illegality, it exacerbates perceptions of exclusion, elite capture, professional solidarity, and impunity in federal institutions meant to embody national balance.
The suggestion that the Minister and the Pro-Chancellor are acting on behalf of the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) and their professional colleagues appears convincing.
The legal fault line is unmistakable. On 8 May 2025, the National Industrial Court delivered judgment in Suit No. NICN/421/2024, instituted by the Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) against the National Universities Commission (NUC), the Federal Ministry of Education, and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
The court held, unequivocally, that a Doctor of Medicine (MD) or professional medical fellowship is not equivalent to a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and cannot substitute for it, where a Ph.D. is a mandatory requirement for academic appointments.
Therefore, the National Industrial Court must treat this contempt at UniAbuja with the seriousness it deserves.
That judgment did not invent new law; it reaffirmed a long-standing principle in Nigerian academia. The Ph.D. is the terminal research degree, signifying rigorous training in methodology, original scholarship, peer-reviewed publication, and doctoral supervision.
Professional fellowships, however prestigious, certify advanced clinical competence, not research leadership across disciplines. To conflate the two is to collapse the distinction between professional practice and academic scholarship, with devastating implications for university governance.
Therefore, it is deeply troubling that the same Ministry of Education, and the supervisory agency, the NUC, already parties to that suit, have chosen to act as though the judgment does not exist. When a subsisting court decision is treated as advisory rather than binding, the rule of law itself is imperilled.
Universities cannot thrive where legality is optional, and standards are rewritten mid-process. This is the standard that the NUC stands for.
In this context, the rejection of the appointment by senior members of the University Senate is not only justified but also exemplary. Operating under the banner of Concerned Academic Stakeholders, Professors Oluwaseun Livingstone Fayose (Law), Fatima Ribadu (Social Sciences), Folake Agnes Ige (Arts), Khalid Ibrahim Musa (Sciences), Ibinabo Hart (Management Sciences), and Sambo Ishaq (Education) articulated a principled, cross-faculty resistance grounded in law and institutional memory.
As reported in The Guardian of 10 December 2025 under the title “UniAbuja professors reject new VC appointment over alleged eligibility breach,” their objection is straightforward: the advertised requirement for the Vice-Chancellor position was possession of a Ph.D., not a fellowship.
The advertised criteria are not merely decorative language; they constitute the legal and ethical framework of the selection process. To breach them is to render the outcome illegitimate.
Their rejection correctly emphasizes that Nigerian courts have consistently rejected attempts to equate professional fellowships with academic doctorates for leadership roles. Furthermore, they warned that substituting one for the other amounts to academic misclassification and regulatory breach, an observation that should alarm every serious stakeholder in the country. Equally compelling is their invocation of institutional precedent.
The University of Abuja has historically prioritized the least controversial and most legally defensible candidate in Vice-Chancellor appointments. This tradition was not accidental; it was a governance strategy designed to protect institutional stability, avoid litigation, and preserve public confidence. By departing from this tradition, the Governing Council has exposed the University to predictable turmoil.
That turmoil was intensified by the administrative haste that allowed the so-called new Vice-Chancellor to resume duties in mid-December 2025, despite the appointment letter, already flawed, clearly stating a commencement date of 10 February 2026.
This premature resumption raises grave legal and administrative questions. What authority altered the commencement date? What is the legal status of decisions taken during this period? Can actions undertaken before the lawful start of tenure withstand judicial scrutiny? Legally, this rush compounds illegality with procedural recklessness.
Administratively, it renders all interim decisions vulnerable to nullification. Socially, it fuels distrust, polarizes the academic community, and sends a dangerous signal that speed and power can override due process. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the haste was designed to create faits accomplis before resistance could crystallize, a tactic wholly inconsistent with university governance ethics.
The demands of these senior academics in the University Senate are therefore , measured and restorative. They do not call for institutional paralysis; they call for correction.
They rightly urged the Visitor to direct the Governing Council and the Federal Ministry of Education to appoint one of the other two recommended candidates from the shortlist who fully meet the advertised requirements and possess a non-controversial, acceptable track record.
This approach preserves continuity while restoring legality.
Ultimately, this episode transcends UniAbuja. It poses a national question: will Nigerian universities be governed by law or by expediency?
The packaging of other MD holders as Vice Chancellors under this Minister of Education appears to be a well-orchestrated part of the experiment in illegality. If a mandatory Ph.D. requirement can be waived today, every academic standard becomes negotiable tomorrow. And once standards collapse, excellence follows. Should this be the fate of the Nigerian University System because of personal interest and professional solidarity?
To preserve institutional integrity, regulatory coherence, and public trust, this appointment must be revisited.
The University of Abuja should not be remembered as the place where illegality was tested and normalized, but as the institution where academics drew a firm line and reaffirmed that in universities, law, reason, and scholarship must always prevail over convenience, professional solidarity, and the exercise of raw power.
JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON a Kaduna based journalist, wrote this piece. He can be reached via; jacobnewnigeria@gmail.com