A group, Edo Unity League Worldwide (EUL) yesterday, said it would resist any attempt by any group of persons or individuals to tribalise the slot of the vice chancellor of the University of Benin.
The group‘s coordinator general, Engr. Marvis Okharedia, issued the warning in a statement entitled “UNIBEN VCship: stop dropping Benin National Congress name or ethnic sentiments in your pursuits, Edo Unity League caution some Benin professors in the race to replace the outgoing VC, 22nd July, 2024“ and made available to journalists in Benin.
He said that in this time and era, proficiency and intellectual capability should be the basic factors in deciding who should take over from the outgoing Vice Chancellor of the University of Benin as the new Vice Chancellor, not tribal sentiments, noting that it would be counterproductive.
It said, „Following the official unveiling of the internal and external advertisement for the would-be vacancy into the office of the vice-chancellor of the University of Benin on Thursday, July 11, 2024, our Secretariat has been inundated with schism by some professors of Benin extraction to have been purportedly endorsed by the Benin National Congress (BNC), as well as touting ethnic jingoism as the major criteria for the credibility-proof appointment.
“This is a most unfortunate tendency and should not be allowed to gain roots in a foremost federal institution‘s intellectual capacity-driven citadel of learning.
“When we sought clarification from the Benin National Congress, it turned out to be outright falsehoods, the claim that it is supporting any candidate of Benin extraction, and it emphatically declared that – by providence, the Binis have had the shots at the post of UNIBEN VC back to back and back, its (BNC) is not taking that for granted, and it is more than ever predisposed to competence, capacity and credibility as the irreducible minimums from academicians seeking the post regardless of their ethnic or geopolitical backgrounds in Nigeria.