The Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, community has been thrown into confusion as Dr. Shettima Abdulkadir Saidu arrived with a claim that he had been appointed as substantive Rector of the school.
The purported appointment of Dr Saidu came barley one week after the announcement of Mr. Shuaibu Omame Madaki over the federal government owned media outfit as the Acting Rector of the institution.
According to a highly placed staff of the institution who pleaded anonymity, Dr. Saidu’s purported appointment was shrouded in confusion for a number reasons.
“First of all, according the his letter of appointment, Dr. Saidu was appointed on January 31 while the Acting Rector was announced in February 3, 2014, making one to wonder why government needed to appoint and announce an Acting Rector if there was one appointed three days earlier,” he said.
He also said it was unusual for appointment of this nature to be made by the federal government without announcing it on the FRCN or the NTA, arguing that more than two weeks after the arrival of Dr. Saidu as the substantive rector nobody had heard the announcement over the media.
Hesaid if the federal government could announce the appointment of the acting rector in the media, then it had more reason to announce that of the substantive rector.
Similarly, a source at the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja, who asked not to be named, said to the best of his knowledge, the appointment letter being brandished by Saidu was not a genuine one since, according to him, it was neither signed by the President nor the Minister of Education.
He said: “A letter of this nature is either signed by the President himself or the Minister of Education on the instruction of the President. Not even the Permanent Secretary can sign this kind of letter let a Director. I want to tell you that this whole issue is about protecting certain interest and it is this interest that is at play to pre-empt the President.”
When our reporter visited the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja to get the reaction of the Permanent Secretary, he was referred to the Director, Tertiary Education, Hajiya Hindatu Abdullahi, as the Permanent Secretary was said to be unavailable.
The director, who claimed to have signed the letter, said Saidu had been duly appointed.
She said out of the three finalists presented to the President to choose from, Dr. Saidu was found to have followed due process, meriting his appointment as the substantive rector.
She said: “The letter I signed for the position of rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, bears the name of Dr Shettima Abdulakadir Saidu. Any other claim on the contrary is that of an imposter.”
