₦airaland Forum

YerYer:
Hausa women are so beautiful.

Yes they are. But this applies to the beautiful ones amongst them only...

SaharaReporters has learned that the Governing Council of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) has fired Ugochukwu Uche, a professor of accounting, who exposed several questionable academic claims and falsifications of credentials by Uche Modum, a longtime professor of accounting at the same university. University Of Nigeria Governing Council Sacks Professor Who Exposed Colleague’s Academic FraudEmmanuel Ukala


Several sources at the university, including some members of the council, told SaharaReporters that the decision to sack Mr. Uche was spearheaded by Mr. Emmanuel C. Ukala, a lawyer who chairs the Governing Council.

“We understand that the decision to terminate Professor Uche’s appointment was taken almost two weeks ago at a meeting of the council,” one of our sources, a lecturer at UNN, stated. “It has sent shock waves through the university, because it means that the council itself is more interested in protecting highly connected people like Professor Modum than in building a good image for UNN as a citadel of learning,” he added.

Our sources disclosed that Mr. Ukala came to the last council meeting determined to deal with the whistleblower who had reported that Mrs. Modum earned her full professorship by making misleading claims about her scholarly publications and work experience.

Mrs. Modum once worked as a Commissioner at the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC). Her husband, Paul Modum, is a retired professor of French at UNN and a former Commissioner for Information in the old Anambra State.

SaharaReporters first broke the academic fraud story on December 13, 2012. It then published follow-up reports on July 23, 2014. On May 5, 2015, this website also exposed the plot by the Ukala-led Council to cover the academic fraud by sacking Mr. Uche.

Specifically, SaharaReporters focused on evidence that showed that Mrs. Modum apparently forged a letter from a top American journal, Management Accounting (now Strategic Finance), which purportedly accepted two of her papers. The shoddily written “acceptance letter,” which was disavowed by the journal’s editor-in-chief, Kathy Williams, in a letter dated June 24, 2011, was part of the documents Mrs. Modum submitted in support of her application for promotion to the rank of full professor.

Mrs. Modum also claimed in various official documents that she worked in a nonexistent “Jones and Jones Inc.,” ostensibly a certified public accounting firm she purported to be based in Dayton, Ohio, in the US.

Our investigation also revealed that Mrs. Modum had also changed her official date of birth, without which she would have since retired from the service of UNN. Wilberforce University in Ohio confirmed that Mrs. Modum’s current date of birth was different from her date of birth when she was a student there. Mrs. Modum has also admitted ownership of multiple dates of birth in writing.

Mrs. Modum’s CV, which was published on a UNN website, included claims to authorship of several nonexistent “published articles.”

The only official response from the University on Mrs. Modum’s apparent string of forgeries came from the immediate past Vice Chancellor, Barth Okolo, who on December 14, 2012 stated, “Prof. (Mrs.) Modum might have made a mistake, but does not deserve all the insults. It is already too late to do anything since she has been educating students in the most excellent manner. What she did not have in publications, she now has in experience.”

When Mr. Okolo’s tenure as VC ended in June 2014, Mr. Ukala seemed to step into the role of shielding Mrs. Modum, according to the views of several members of UNN community who spoke to SaharaReporters. Mr. Ukala served as a personal lawyer to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. According to one source, it was Mr. Wike, as then acting Minister of Education, who appointed Mr. Ukala to chair the Governing Council at UNN after sacking the immediate past chairman, Emeka Enejere, in December 2013, less than one year into his tenure. The source added that Mr. Enejere was pushed out after he documented and submitted a report that detailed numerous questionable and often fraudulent decisions taken by then VC, Mr. Okolo. SaharaReporters first broke the story that Mr. Okolo was involved in widespread contract splitting and award of contracts to nonexistent companies. Mr. Ukala’s first action as the university’s Pro-Chancellor was to quash his predecessor’s fraud findings against Mr. Okolo.

According to some of our sources who served in the present or previous UNN Council, it was in 2008 that Mr. Uche first brought attention to the significant discrepancies and false claims in Mrs. Modum’s profile and record. Mr. Uche was then serving as dean of his faculty. “It was however not until 2011 (three years later) that the Council decided to investigate this matter,” a former council member told SaharaReporters. He added that a committee selected by Mr. Okolo acquitted Mrs. Modum of all the charges, even though several members were perturbed by the open agenda of shielding a senior, politically connected academic.

A source who was privy to the investigation stated that the matter would have ended there if the Council had not accused Mr. Uche of “character assassination without concrete facts” and ordered him to apologize to Mrs. Modum.

An investigation by SaharaReporters revealed that the issue actually divided the committee at the time. “Some of the members, including Professors Malachy Okwueze and Rich Umeh, felt that it was best to just acquit Professor Modum. But others, led by Professor (Mrs.) Grace Offorma and Professor Benjamin Elue (a former Deputy Governor of Delta State under Mr. James Ibori), insisted that the ‘small boy’ should be taught a lesson,” one of our sources disclosed. Mr. Rich Umeh eventually refused to sign the committee’s report.

On 29 July, 2011, Mr. Uche’s lawyer wrote to the University to explain that his client was only a witness when the Council committee was investigating Mrs. Modum, adding that, before he could be sanctioned, he should first be informed of his alleged offences, given the opportunity to defend himself with the aid of counsel of his choice, and allowed to interrogate his accusers. He made it clear that his client was willing to submit himself for trial once his fundamental right to fair hearing was respected. The letter also made it clear that if the Council decided to disregard the clear evidence of academic fraud, Mr. Uche had been advised to leave the matter to “their collective conscience.”

A lecturer at UNN stated that former VC Okolo was not eager to try Mr. Uche “because Professor Okolo knew full well that Professor (Mrs.) Modum had no defense for the things she wrote in her CV.” In fact, the former VC went to the extent of directing that the letter from Mr. Uche’s lawyer be returned on grounds of “improper routing.” This forced Mr. Uche to write an open letter to all the Council members providing evidence of the multiple forgeries and falsifications.

As a result, when Mr. Okolo subsequently tried to get the Council to sanction Mr. Uche for not complying with its decision to apologize to Mrs. Modum, several members openly advised him to be careful and warned that he could not get away with such level of impunity, our sources said. Notable among such members were Professors Grace Nzelibe, Gregory Akenzua and Benjamin Ozumba, UNN’s current Vice Chancellor. The issue remained unresolved until a new Council was appointed in April 2013.

The new Governing Council headed by Mr. Emeka Enejere set up a Committee headed by Mr. Harrison Onwu to hear the numerous petitions against Mr. Okolo. On August 6, 2013, Mr. Uche received a text message to appear before the Committee on August 7, 2013. His request to appear with his counsel was denied by the Committee. According to a source who was privy to the Committee deliberations, the Committee wanted to end the case by withdrawing the demand for an apology so that “everybody will move on.”

That attitude apparently explained why the Committee chairman, on several occasions, pressured Mr. Uche to simply urge the Committee to “temper justice with mercy.” “This would have provided the Committee the grounds to recommend that the demand for an apology be withdrawn,” one source said. He added that the Committee, however, had also resolved that the warning for “character assassination without concrete facts” would not be withdrawn as this would amount to the University admitting that the allegations against Mrs. Modum were true.

SaharaReporters also learned that the chairman of the Committee made it clear that his body was not interested in looking at the facts of a matter that had been “settled” by a previous Council. One member of that Committee told SaharaReporters that some powerful members privately acknowledged that Mr. Uche’s allegations against Mrs. Modum were sound, but they also felt that, as a young man, he must bow to authority.

Mr. Uche however explained that all he wanted was to be given fair hearing to enable him to authenticate his allegations of forgeries and falsifications against Mrs. Modum.

In August 2014, Mr. Uche wrote to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) requesting it to urge the University to grant him fair hearing. NHRC wrote two letters to then VC Okolo, dated August 20, 2013 and November 15, 2013, making a case for observing due process, including fair hearing. Brushing aside such appeals, the UNN Council now headed by Mr. Ukala wrote to Mr. Uche on June 20, 2014 giving him two weeks to apologize or be sanctioned.

Mr. Uche responded by petitioning the Federal House of Representatives through a letter dated July 3, 2014. His letter accused the Council of moving hastily to fire him without trial, thereby violating his fundamental right to fair hearing, and all in a bid to shield an academic colleague whose falsified credentials he had exposed. On July 22, 2014, the Public Complaints Commission of the House of Representatives wrote to the University to maintain the status quo and settle the matter internally within one month, failing which there was to be a public hearing.

A current Council member told SaharaReporters on condition of anonymity that Mr. Ukala was so rattled by the letter that he stated that the best way to save face was to ask Mrs. Modum to quietly resign, after which the Council would inform the National Assembly that the allegations raised were beyond the powers of the Council to adjudicate.

However, he soon changed strategies, deciding that it was best to give the impression that the Council was looking into the matter. “He stated that the tenure of the National Assembly would soon expire,” one Council source claimed. He added that Mr. Ukala directed Mr. Ozumba to write to the legislature to the effect that the University had suspended action on the decision of the previous Council and needed more time to settle the matter administratively. Mr. Ozumba’s letter was dated July 25, 2014.

Mr. Ozumba subsequently fixed September 17, 2014 as the date for a meeting between Mr. Uche and Mrs. Modum, ostensibly to broker a resolution. The date was also the day the House of Representatives had tentatively set aside for public hearings on the matter.

Mr. Ukala’s strategy of delaying action until the tenure of the House of Representatives seemed to work. In its interim report to the full House, dated January 14, 2015, the Public Complaints Committee concluded that UNN officials were cooperative and recommended that the extension of time be granted.

SaharaReporters learned that the peace meeting lasted less than one hour. Mr. Uche’s lawyer restated his position that his client had done his ethical and patriotic duty as dean of faculty, adding that he was willing to leave the outcome of the Council investigations to the collective conscience of Council members. He added that his client wanted the sanctions against him for being a whistleblower to be lifted or that he granted a trial in accordance with the rules of natural justice and fair hearing.

Several university sources said Mr. Ozumba played along with Mr. Ukala’s agenda of stalling a resolution on the matter. “A number of us were baffled that Professor Ozumba allowed Ukala to use him in an unprofessional and unethical manner,” said one of our sources. He recalled that Mr. Ozumba was, after all, one of the members in the previous Council who had told former VC Okolo that he could not get away with punishing a whistleblower while protecting a senior academic accused credibly of committing academic fraud.”

Another source agreed that Mr. Ozumba’s action was curious, but added that the academic possibly decided to align with Mr. Ukala and the powers behind him in order to strengthen his chances of being appointed the Vice Chancellor.

On April 1, 2015, the National Human Rights Commission wrote a second and final reminder letter to the University to respond to its inquiry on Mr. Uche’s demand for fair hearing. In a response to NHRC, UNN’s registrar, Anthony Okonta, claimed that the case against Mrs. Modum was that of plagiarism, adding that Mr. Uche had already been given fair hearing in accordance with UNN law. Dated May 27, 2015, the Registrar’s letter also confirmed that the Council had deferred to the House of Representatives by suspending action on the matter.

On September 14, 2015, the NHRC responded to the Registrar, asking the University to forward the entire proceedings of its investigations to enable the commission to establish whether fair hearing had been applied. The letter spelt out that fair hearing included informing the accused of the specific charges against them, giving them sufficient time to prepare their defense, and allowing them to appoint a legal counsel of their choice.

SaharaReporters learned that Mr. Ukala was so determined to fire Mr. Uche, who is on a leave of absence and teaching in the Netherlands, that he instructed Vice Chancellor Ozumba not to bring the NHRC’s letter to the attention of the full Council.

Several sources told SaharaReporters that some members of the Council protested vehemently when Mr. Ukala insisted at the Council’s September 29, 2015 meeting that Mr. Uche should be fired. “He [Ukala] overruled all protests on the grounds that the matter had been decided by a previous Council and therefore did not concern the current Council,” said one source familiar with the Council’s proceedings. He added, “Ukala simply ruled that Professor Uche should be sacked for disobeying the 2011 Council directive to apologize to Mrs. Modum.”

A professor at UNN told SaharaReporters that he was confident a law court would reverse the Council’s action. “Section 16 of the UNN Act makes it explicit that you cannot sack an academic staff without first formally informing him of the crimes he has committed and then setting up a joint Senate and Council Committee specifically to try him,” he said. He asked, “I wonder why Mr. Ukala, who is a SAN [Senior Advocate of Nigeria], would willfully violate UNN’s policy? It is a brazen case of corruption and abuse of office. It’s the kind of impunity that continues to derail the progress that the once prestigious UNN should be recording.”

Source: http://www.flowspoint.com/university-of-nigeria-governing-council-sacks-professor-who-exposed-colleagues-academic-fraud-2/

It's hard for them in the opposition...

A South-East socio-political organization, Njiko Igbo Forum, has described the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, leaders as cowards and bunch of ingrates.

Reacting to PDP’s zoning of its 2019 presidential ticket to the North, the Forum said it was a height of ingratitude to deny the South-East the presidential ticket despite getting block votes from the zone in 2015.

In a communique issued after its emergency meeting in Enugu, signed by its President, Rev. Okechukwu Obioha, the group said, “we consider the recommendation of Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s PDP committee and subsequent approval of PDP’s NWC that 2019 presidential candidate of the party will come from the North as an act of cowardice to electoral victory and ingratitude to Ndigbo.

“What this hasty declaration and politicking means is that if PDP wins in 2019, her candidate (a Northerner) will seek a second term constitutional provision; if the APC wins again in 2019, they will return the Presidency to the S/West and thereby elongating the chances of the South-East to the Presidency of this country-Nigeria.

“This is unacceptable to say the least. Njiko Igbo will intensify her efforts in making sure that any organized and coordinated party that puts up an Igbo as presidential candidate, will have our support.

“We will rather be in opposition than sale our birthright. After all, the S/West had stayed in the opposition for many years now and they are where they are today. Since PDP is hasty and selfish in starting the politics of 2019 Presidency now, Njiko Igbo will be hasty to let them know that we deliberately made a statement in 2015 general elections without apologies, and will repeat this feat in 2019 by rejecting them.



“We are a major partner in this project called Nigeria. We will never support PDP and will vote against her come 2019. We call on all patriotic Onye Igbo in PDP to begin to address their minds come 2019 that PDP will not have the blessing of Ndigbo as far as the Presidency is concerned. We are not visitors in this country-Nigeria.”

The Forum, which is an affiliate of Ohanaeze Ndigbo added that “we express our disappointment on our own Sen Ike Ekweremadu on chairing the committee that did that recommendation in the first instance. He should look for an appropriate fora to apologize for that unpatriotic show.

“We reiterate that Njiko Igbo Forum has no regret for joining forces to vote down APC in the general elections of 2015 especially the Presidency. because we wanted to make a statement. This is why we are not and will not complain of the divisionary tendencies President Mohammed Buhari has shown so far concerning Ndigbo in the running of his government, vis avis every of his appointments made and his support and calculated attempt to have Ndigbo absent in the three tiers of government. It is been very remarkable! This is why we make bold to say that no further appointments will assuage us from believing that we are part of this government.

“We request President Muhammadu Buhari as our Commander in Chief to tread and treat with caution the harassment and arrests of Igbo Indigenes by several security agencies in the guise that they are clamouring for Biafra. The other day, Yoruba Elders openly threatened to secede and declared a war against the Fulani Herdsmen, and nothing has happened to them.

“Yes, Ndigbo may have been defeated in war as declared by Junaid Mohammed and Arewa Consultative Assembly, but we are not vanquished in any way at all. We hold the ace and the scepter of this country. This is a proven fact!”

Source: http://dailypost.ng/2015/10/16/we-will-never-support-pdp-again-igbo-forum/

Congrats on your buy!

But you may want to ask Google as a reservoir of people's thoughts..

buchibrand:
That's not the issue here. This man could better be referred to as "LIAR Mohammed". He told a whole lot of lies against the past administration just to oust Jona, and that was pretty wrong.

Politics is a 'dirty game'. Remember that idiom? That's the rule, that's the game.

buchibrand:
Lol! What do you stand to gain by supporting the man with questions on his person?

You'll agree that there's hardly anyone that is blameless. Everyone has a stain!

takin35:
CHASIS NUMBER:5Y2SL66845Z464993.
COLOUR:BLUE.
NAME OF CAR:PONTIAC VIBE.
YEAR:2005.

Please the above named car was snatched from me at a gun point together with my ATM in which under durex I gave them my pin,including my drivers liscence,my Nigerian Breweries I D card,my PVC etc,on my way to deliver the car for the owner.This people were on soldier uniform,I was beating to pulp please house help me if you see this car from anywhere I am in debt because of this.
07038573217.
08173582707.

Inform the owner.

Inform the police.

buchibrand:
So you subscribe to such cheap excuse?

But I wonder if you watched Lai Mohammed's presentation and questioning sessions?

He was well eloquent...

buchibrand:
Hahaha! That's an APC man

Well, APC is currently ruling and would be so for the next 4 yrs. So why should I not be seen with the obvious?

You were listening to those that spoke into their microphones. Bukola Saraki heard the whole of the house.

razid:
President Muhammadu Buhari - Coach
Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN - Assistant Coach

1. Dr Ogbonaya Onu
2. Dr Kayode Fayemi
3. Dr Ibe Kachikwu
4. Lt.Gen Dr Abdulrahman Dambazau
5. Dr Osagie Ehanire
6. Engr Suleiman Adamu
7. Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN
8. Senator Udo Udo Udoma
9. Senator Hadi Sirika
10. Kemi Adeosun
11. Amina Muhammed

Substitutes:
12. Chief Audu Ogbeh
13. Dr Chris Ngige
14. Solomon Dalong
15. Alhaji Lai Muhammed
16. Senator Aisha Alhassan

Reserves:
17. Ibrahim Usman Jibril
18. Abubakar Malami SAN

Just imagine what this team will do to any Nigerian economic problem whether emergency (like Ebola) or permanent (like poverty)? Again, just imagine any sector being discussed here (e.g. Security, Power & Energy, Health, Agriculture, Trade & Investments, Finance, Petroleum Resources, National Planning, etc) that will not warrant robust debate. Imagine the contributions of these people in any debate in that Federal Executive Council. This is what I called a Super Cabinet and only a person with "inner" eyes would see what I'm seeing. President Buhari promised that he is going to assemble the best team to actualize his visions for the country. With the team above, not to talk of the Substitutes and the reserves, this is another promise kept. And this is just the team A that has just been cleared by FIFA (Senate). Well I can only say this season promises to be an interesting one for Nigeria and Nigerians. And I believe we are going to get it right by God's grace going forward.

Oya any economic problem, bring it on, na we and you today. Who say Nigeria no go better? If no be say na yanga sef, I fit challenge any person to bring any team in the past wey fit challenge this our new Super Cabinet. Mind you, team B still dey there o!

God I pray make none of these team players never get injury o!

Interesting

Chelsea manager, José Mourinho, has been given a one-match stadium ban and fined £50,000 by the English Football Association after suggesting referees are “afraid to give decisions to Chelsea”.

Mourinho pleaded guilty to a FA charge of misconduct after making the remarks following Chelsea’s defeat by Southampton early October. He was furious that Robert Madley did not award a penalty when Maarten Stekelenburg darted off his line and made contact with Radamel Falcao in the box.

The controversial manager said after the Southampton game: “I think, first of all, I want to say that because we are in such a bad moment you should not be afraid to be honest,” he said. “When we are at the top there is quite big pleasure in putting us down. But when you are so down I think it is time to be honest and say clearly that referees are afraid to give decisions to Chelsea.

“At 1-1 there is a huge penalty and, once more, we do not get it. It was at a crucial moment in the game. I repeat, if the FA wants to punish me they can punish me, it is not a problem. But I want to repeat because my players deserve it, Chelsea fans deserve it. I am a Chelsea fan too. I want to say again that referees are afraid to give decisions to Chelsea. Why? Because when they do give there is always a question mark from you, there is always a critic. So we are always punished.”

The FA ruled that Mourinho’s ban would be immediately invoked should he be found guilty before 13 October 2016 of another breach of its rules relating to comments made to or through the media. This is his fourth such sanction since returning to English football in 2013, with the total paid in fines standing at £93,000.

Source: http://saharareporterssport.com/pleaded-guilty-mourinho-gets-one-match-ban-fined-50k/

Not again!

The point is that soft targets would always exist in that region - even, in every region.

Just like that?

Direct to the point Notification of Disengagement Letter...

alabi4good:
For more inquiries and informations as per your  dream cars.     

Contact us today  08138188374  alabi4gooddeals@yahoo.com    

thanks

Adetunji.

How much to clear Toyota Highlander 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010 from Cotonou to Lagos. Am trying to see which year I can afford...

Hoping to read from you...

Best practice..


BTW,

I thought the program is not for full-time graduates that are aged 30 and above but the post is saying something else, someone needs to remind me of the policy in case I have forgotten...

Gboliwe:
Read again, try and make sense of it before rushing to show your ignorance. For starters, it's the Auditor General and NOT Accountant General we are talking about. These two are clearly different.

I rushed!

How can Auditor-General of the Federation say some spendings are outside of its accounting scope and scrutiny ...

That is irresponsibility...

Like a MONK!!!!

Whats absolute here!! No doubt that she's pretty...

But not all poses can qualify as being absolute.

Really?

This is leadership

20pounds:
I have been in a situation where I was playing with 'fire', without knowing. God simply did not allow the 'fire' to know me.

God is too much.

Lucky you.

The Election Tribunal in Ogun State has nullified the election of alleged Senator Buruji Kashamu.

The tribunal made the decision today in Abeokuta and ordered a rerun.

Prince Dapo Abiodun, the All Progressives Congress,APC Ogun East Senatorial candidate in the March 28 Presidential and National Assembly Election challenged Kashamu’s victory at the tribunal, claiming that Kashamu was not validly elected.

Instead, Abiodun wanted the tribunal to declare him the winner.

At the hearing on 3 August, all the counsels in the matter adopted their final addresses and made final submission to further convince the court on their cases.

Counsel to the petitioner, Yusuf Ali (SAN) argued that result sheets made available to agents at the polling units were different from the Certified True Copies,CTC, brought before the court by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

In his alternative prayer, Ali also prayed the court to nullify Kashamu’s election on ground that Dapo Abiodun won the majority valid votes, adding that the Senator was not qualified to contest the election in the first place because of his alleged drug related cases against him.

According to him,”Our position is that we won the election, but was denied victory and the tribunal should restore us into the victory path. That is the summary of our case.

“We have the alternative prayers, one was that if we do the proper calculation of the valid votes, Dapo Abiodun would have the majority of valid votes, and we said based on that, nullify the election of Buruji and declare Dapo Abiodun the winner.

“In case the tribunal does not agree, by looking at the documents we brought after the conclusion of votes in each polling stations, Dapo Abiodun’s agents were given copies of the result which we tendered but we need INEC to bring the Certified True Copies and we now discovered that the ones they brought were different with the material particulars of the ones they gave to us on the day of the election.

“We now said if the tribunal agrees that such differences point to irregularities, we have asked the tribunal to nullify the election and order fresh election, those are our alternative prayers.

Our allegation again was that Buruji Kashamu was not qualified to run for the election having regards to a lot of issue on his extradition and based on those issues, he shouldn’t have contested election.”

In his counter arguement, Counsel to Kashamu, Ajibola Oluyede (SAN) said the petition was brought based on documents produced by the petitioner himself saying such documents are not admissible before the court.

“You were in court and you saw that the petitioner’s case was based on documents he produced himself, and he rejected the documents that were produced by the umpire and it is those ones he produced himself that he wants the court to rely upon.

“So, the arguments focused on those documents, all we are waiting for is for the court to give its judgement. We are very confident that the court would uphold the decision of the electorate, the electorate has elected its Senator,”Ajibola said.

After listening to all the counsels, the Chairman of the three man panel, Justice Ebiowei Tobi said he reserved judgement to a later date which ‘will be communicated to counsels’. Friday is now the Judgment Day.


Source :http://www.goldmyne.tv/election-tribunal-nullifies-senator-buruji-kashamus-seat-orders-rerun/

christinie:
What's b/o?

Maybe 'back office'

hope4nigeria:
Are we sure na only mikel do the thing, why one of the baby no black

lol

I dont get it....

jaytee01:
PDP don't recover Kashamu seat be dat

What happened to Kashamu's seat?

I prefer a story than a conversation

Operation pull him down??

Why speculating!!

And you call this jounarlism?

Why speculating!!

And you call this journalism?