A major scandal has erupted at the Federal Polytechnic Oko in Anambra State, as Mrs. Blessing Anulika Okeke, an alumna of the institution, has filed a lawsuit against the Polytechnic, its Governing Council, the Registrar, the Alumni President, the Minister of Education, and Dr. Chioma Irene Awuzie, over attempts to manipulate the selection process for the appointment of a new Rector and appoint Dr Awuzie who is not qualified for the position.
Mrs Okeke, dragged the Polytechnic, it’s governing council, the registrar, the Alumni President, Henry Nnebe, the Minister of Education, Prof Tahir Mamman and One Dr Chioma Irene Awuzie to court over alleged moves to corrupt the selection process of the Polytechnic and impose Dr Awuzie as the new Rector.
According to the court documents marked as SUIT NO NICN/AWK/49/2024 and filled at the Awka Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, the Plaintiff, Mrs Blessing Anulika Awuzie is asking the court to order that it is illegal for Dr Chioma Irene Awuzie who was employed by the Polytechnic in 2005 as Lecturer 3 to apply to alter or upgrade her employment details in order to be qualified for appointment as Rector of the Polytechnic.
Dr. Chioma Irene Awuzie is a lecturer at the Polytechnic who, according to court documents, was employed in 2005 as Lecturer 3 and later rose to the position of Chief Lecturer in January 2020. The crux of the lawsuit is Dr. Awuzie’s alleged desperate attempt to upgrade her employment records, to backdate her promotion to Chief Lecturer from 2020 to 2017, thereby meeting the minimum requirement of having served in that role for at least five years, as stipulated in the guidelines for the Rector position.
In her suit, Mrs. Okeke alleged that Dr. Awuzie does not meet the qualification criteria set out in an advertisement published on October 31, 2023, in the Daily Sun Newspaper. The advertisement invited applications for the Rector position, specifying that candidates must have been Chief Lecturers for a minimum of five years. With Dr. Awuzie’s promotion to Chief Lecturer dating to January 2020, she falls short of this requirement by over a year.
The Plaintiff further claims that Dr. Awuzie, fully aware of her ineligibility, sought to manipulate the process by requesting an adjustment by upgrade of her employment records, effectively seeking to backdate her promotion to Chief Lecturer to 2017. According to court documents, this request was rejected by the Polytechnic on December 7, 2023. Despite this, Dr. Awuzie and her enablers continued to pursue the appointment, leading to a broader crisis within the institution.
The lawsuit further alleges that Dr. Awuzie, with the assistance of a suspended lecturer, Dr. Uche Onyegbu, who purported to act as the institution’s Acting Registrar without authority, approved the backdating of Dr Awuzie’s promotion. The purported employment upgrade given to Dr Awuzie by Dr Onyegbu was invalidated and declared illegal on the same day in July 2024 by the Awka Industrial Court earlier in SUIT NO NICN/AW/12/2024, where the court declared Dr. Onyegbu’s actions purporting as Acting Registrar to be “illegal, null, and void.”
Mrs. Okeke is seeking several declarations from the court, including an order declaring that it is illegal for Dr. Awuzie to adjust or upgrade her employment details to qualify for the Rector position, A declaration that Dr. Awuzie is not eligible for the position as she has not served as a Chief Lecturer for the required five years and A declaration that any purported adjustment or upgrade to Dr. Awuzie’s employment details made to facilitate her qualification for the position of Rector is illegal, unlawful, and void.
Mrs Okeke is also seeking a perpetual injunction restraining the Polytechnic and other defendants from recommending or appointing Dr. Awuzie based on the illegal upgrade and adjustments to her employment details.