NMA, Professor Demand Nullification of Unijos VC’s Appointment

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and the Director General, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Professor Innocent Ujah, have filed a fresh motion asking the court to nullify the appointment of Professor Sebastian Maimako as the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos.

Maimako was last month appointed as the ninth vice-chancellor of the university by the institution’s Governing Council led by Chief Don Etiebet.

He is expected to resume duties on June 22, 2016 when the tenure of the current Vice Chancellor, Professor Hayward Mafuyai, will elapse.

But in a motion filed at the Federal High Court in Bauchi, counsel to the plaintiffs said consequent upon an earlier judgment of Bauchi High Court of April 21, 2016, which retrained the university from conducting the selection process for appointing a vice-chancellor for the institution pending a final determination of the suit challenging the exclusion of medical doctors from participating in the selection process, the selection of Maimako should be nullified.

He therefore asked the Bauchi Judicial Division of the Federal High Court to take notice of its judgment delivered by Justice M. Shitu Abubakar and nullify the appointment of Professor Maimako  which he said was done in disregard of the directive of the court made on April 21, 2016.

Besides, the counsel is equally asking the court “to arrest its judgment reserved for June 9, 2016 pending the determination of the fresh motion and for such further order(s) as the court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.”

He said: “The motion exparte for an injunction restraining the defendants from continuing with the selection of a new VC for Unijos arising from the exclusion of our clients was granted on April 21, 2016 by Justice Shitu Abubakar of the Bauchi Federal High Court but the defendants ignored and disregarded the court directive and continued with the selection process which eventually culminated in the purported appointment of Sebastian Maimako as the vice chancellor of the university.

“The order of the court granted on the 21st April, 2016 is just and necessary in the circumstance on the basis of the doctrine of lis pendens. So, it will be in the interest of justice for the court to nullify the selection and subsequent appointment of the vice-chancellor of the university of Jos.”

Hearing on the motion has been fixed on May 31, 2016.