From Yakubu Busari, Jos
The member representing Jos North-North constituency at the House of Representatives has faulted his colleagues on their stand over staffing in the University of Jos, describing employment at the institution as representative enough and in accordance with the federal character principle as enshrined in the Constitution.
Hon Ibrahim Baba-Hassan, who was one time Deputy Speaker in the state, urged his visiting colleagues on Committee on Federal Character not to pander to those he called cheap blackmailers who misrepresent facts against the Vice- Chancellor, Prof Seddi Sabastine Maimako.
He said; โMaimako has been fair to all Nigerians in terms of employment and admission in the institution.
โHaving watched the interactive session several times and making critical analysis of the discourse, I noticed that the so-called interactive meeting did not meet the minimum acceptable standards of inviting other vice chancellors but to just destroy the landmark achievements under Maimako .
โThe attention of eminent leadership of North-Central constituency was drawn to the unwarranted comments coming out from the honourable members who understood the politics going on across Nigeria universities yet beam their mind to UniJos .
โAs Member representing Jos North-North constituency, I stand to call on the appropriate authority to see a video that went viral on the Internet on the interactive meeting between the House of Representatives Committee on Federal Character and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos, Jos Nigeria.โ
The former speaker lamented that โfrom the start to the finish, Professor Maimako was not given the space and opportunity to defend himself; rather, the House Committee came prepared with a mind set to embarrass, ridicule and intimidate the vice-chancellor.
Hon Ibrahim express dissatisfaction that they had no doubt that given the opportunity, the vice-chancellor and the registrar would have given adequate explanations to the enquiries on the procedures on the employments carried for the period under review, stressing that the discourteous manner in which the vice-chancellor was addressed by the committee was unprecedented, which left them with a bigger question.
He challenged the committee not to use the office of the vice-chancellor and that of the registrar alone to arrive at their conclusions, noting that of the six ranking members in the administration of the University of Jos, four (4) are not from Plateau State.
Hon Baba-Hassan pointed out that the spread of principal officers of the University of Jos is one of the best in the country while both deputy vice-chancellors, the bursar and librarian are not from Plateau State, saying โthe pre-arranged ambush on the person of the vice-chancellor is a cheap blackmail, which should be condemned by all.
โThey may do well by avoiding setting double standards in their investigation, and also applying selective justice. What happened at that meeting was a mere harassment and intimidation from people we elected and that is unacceptable,โ he added.
