By Babban Jumai
Kano- Kano state government has demanded for an unequivocal apology from the management of East Carolina University.
The apology is over a controversial appointment offered Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje into the position of Senior Mentoring Scholar and Visiting Full Professor of e-governance and International Affairs in the university on November 30, 2020.
The demand is coming days after an investigation detected the appointment to be fraudulent.
The Carolina University has since, published a rebuttal of ever offering ‘Full Visiting Professorship’ title to the Kano State Governor.
The statement by the Secretary to the Kano State Government (SSG), Alhaji Usman Alhaji called for a disciplinary action against the faculty member that stirred up the controversy which attempted to embarrass the governor and the people of Kano state.
He said the governor never solicited for the appointment even though it had no reason to doubt the veracity of the letter sent by one of its faculty members at the time.
The SSG said that given Ganduje’s background as an academician of repute, the he would be the last person on earth to have neither solicit nor accept fraudulent appointment into academic position in any university or institution of higher learning within and outside Nigeria.
‘’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.
Alhaji Usman 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.
While wishing the university the best of luck, the statement expressed deep shock over the content of the letter from the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the University, admitting an error in conveying the message notifying the appointment.
