Kano State government has asked the East Carolina University (ECU) of the United States to apologise over the conferment of fake professorship on governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje,
It would be recalled that the Governor’s spokesperson Abba Anwar had on December 1st issued a statement announcing the East Carolina University’s, United State of America, International Center for Information Technology and Development (ECU-ICITD), College of Business, had appointed the Governor to the position of Senior Mentoring Scholar and Visiting Full Professor of E-Governance and International Affairs.
However, the university, said to have appointed the governor as a visiting professor had on Friday denied doing so.
The institution in a letter said the letter claimed to have been sent to the governor by one of its faculty members was neither authorised by the management nor sent with their consent.
Reacting to the development, the Secretary to the Kano State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Alhaji, issued a statement calling for disciplinary action against Dr. Victor Mbarika, the faculty member that stirred up the controversy.
The statement noted while the governor or any official of his government has no reason to doubt the veracity of the letter sent by one of its faculty members, which was communicated using the university’s instrument of office, it equally did not at any time solicit for such appointment.
‘’We are deeply saddened by the uproar stirred up by this controversial appointment that attempted to embarrass the person of the governor and the good people of Kano State,“ the statement added.
It pointed out that Governor Ganduje obtained a National Certificate in Education (NCE) 1972, a Bachelor’s Degree in Science Education from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, 1975; two Master’s Degrees in Applied Educational Psychology from Bayero University, Kano (BUK) 1979; and Public Administration also from ABU 1985, as well as a Ph.D. which he obtained nearly three decades ago from the University of Ibadan in South-West Nigeria.
The statement further noted that given Governor Ganduje’s background as an academician, he would be the last person on earth to either solicit or accept fraudulent appointments into academic positions in any university or institution of higher learning within and outside Nigeria.
