The 8-Man Investigative Panel on IMT: "A Lynch Mob, Gathering of Cronies, Friends and Associates Driven by an Inexplicable Sense of VENDETTA to Sit in Trial Over Some IMT Targets" - Felix Oguejiofor Abugu
OPINION | IMT probe (2): The making of a hatchet job, by Felix Oguejiofor Abugu.
I had to change the original headline of this report, ‘IMT probe as Peter Mbah’s misplaced aggression’, to the current one: ‘IMT probe (2): The making of a hatchet job’. This followed a piece of advice from a friend and senior colleague of mine, who was piqued by my protest over the composition of the ‘IMT Investigative Panel’. He said that while, on the face of it, my assertion that the probe panel had no Enugu North (Nsukka) person as member was believable, it would be more believable still if I could name the panel members by their local government areas of origin. For, according to him, it’s just possible that the entire thing was a ‘them them’ affair given a veneer of credibility by a sprinkling of members from outside of Enugu North, while only a few ‘inner-circle’ members, who might have been properly briefed on the mission of the panel – to find the target(s) guilty by hook or crook – worked the control-room. It turned out that he was just right!
And yet, I am constrained to ask if Governor Mbah also knew and bought into this elaborate plot of vendetta against the IMT management by an official of the school with a proven case of financial malfeasance against him by a court of competent jurisdiction in Nigeria? Or was he corralled into it by a manipulative group that has historically projected itself, in the contest for power in wawaland, as culturally superior to both the East and North? Did Professor Chidiebere Onyia, the SSG from Awkunanaw, properly advise his brother the Governor on this IMT probe thing?
But, no matter. To cut a long story short, here is how members of the panel stand, according to their places of origin in Enugu and beyond. We take them seriatim:
Prof. Ed Nwobodo (Chairman of the Panel)- Ebe town in Udi LGA (Enugu West)
*Basil Offoh, the petitioner is from Egede, a neighbouring town to Ebe. Although he is not a member of the panel, which was set up on the strength of his petition, Offoh’s mother is, however, from Ebe and related to Prof. Nwobodo. In other words, Basil Offoh is a relative of the Chairman of the panel!
*Dr. Moses Otiji (member) – Ezeagu LGA (Enugu West).
*Barr. Lilian Ikwueze (member) – Ezeagu (Enugu West) (Ndi Enugu know that between Ezeagu and Udi, blood is simply thicker than water!).
*Dr. (Mrs.) Ada Nwonye (member)- Aninri LGA (Enugu West)
*Vincent Onyeabor (member) – Nkanu East LGA (Enugu East)
*Mr. Osita Onuma (member) – Nkanu West LGA (Enugu East)
*Ambassador Judy Nweke (member) – Awka, Anambra State and,
*Chinenye Angela, the only one we could not locate her local government area of origin as at the time of this report is, however, definitely not from any of the local government areas in Enugu North.
From the above configuration, one thing becomes very clear about the IMT probe panel: objectivity and fairness were not thought necessary at all in the choice of its members. Otherwise, at least one member could have been chosen from any of the six local government areas that constitute cultural Nsukka.
Isn’t it, then, correct to describe the panel as a lynch mob, a gathering of cronies, friends and associates driven by an inexplicable sense of vendetta to sit in trial over some IMT targets? Need we emphasise, therefore, that members of this highly biased panel already have a premeditated guilty verdict on those programmed to be found guilty by this invidious probe already tucked away inside their shirt pockets?
It is one of those ironies of Enugu politics that the government would hurriedly set up a panel to establish transparency or lack thereof in the management of resources in the IMT on the strength of a petition by a man whom the courts have asked to return millions of unaccounted-for money to the coffers of the Institute. It is possible that if Governor Mbah had been properly briefed by his SSG, he would not have allowed the setting up of an ‘investigative’ panel which may well be a smokescreen for an essentially disingenuous attempt by officials of government to cover up for one of their inner-circle members, by diverting attention from his probable sins.
Now, let’s look at the petitioner, Mr. Basil Offoh’s complaints. One of them is that the appointment of the Deputy Rector of the IMT did not follow the due process. And the question is, how did it not? According to section 21 (1) Cap 97, Laws of Enugu State, and the IMT Conditions of Service as well, the Governing Council, on the recommendation of Academic Board, is empowered to appoint any fit and proper person to occupy such a vacant position. And, as one found out, the Council properly exercised that power in the appointment of the current Deputy Rector of the IMT. Chief Lecturers like Mr. Offoh and other members of the Academic Board were also qualified to be so appointed. Is it possible that Offoh considered blistering media outing more effective this time around in his fight for ‘justice’ for himself, than the courts he had so frequently used in the past to fight IMT for such justice, hence this salacious report in the media about ‘misdeeds’ in IMT, which his friends/relatives with access to power and influence in the current state government had to excitedly latch on to set up for him this largely cover-up probe?
Former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani… couldn’t care less about IMT; was only interested in completing ESUT permanent at his hometown, Agbani and relocating the school
As a ‘Chief Lecturer’, Basil Offoh was qualified to vie for the position of Deputy Rector of the IMT, which I think he did but failed. Naturally he would be upset, even aggrieved. Understandably. But could this be the reason for this seeming bull-in-the-china behaviour of his? For, there is the issue of how in 2018, Mr. Offoh was appointed the Acting Head, Department of Languages when the then Head, Dr. (Mrs.) Ifeyinwa Anibueze (now late) was indisposed. By the laws of IMT, an acting appointment needed the Governing Council’s ratification for it to be substantive.
However, following a letter from the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, where Mrs. Anibueze was hospitalized, that the substantive Head was fit to return to work, Dr. Anibueze then resumed work as Head of the Department. That also meant that Mr. Offoh had to revert to his old position as Chief Lecturer. But he would have none of that. In a fit of self-righteousness indignation, Offoh dragged IMT to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) seeking 23 reliefs one of which was that he ought to have been confirmed as Deputy Rector. Unfortunately for him, none of the reliefs was given to him, not one out of the 23 reliefs he sought! Did Governor Mbah know about such previous record of Mr. Offoh’s industrial headache for IMT?
His attempts to reposition IMT frustrated by a thieving management team, leading his sack of a former Rector
Consider yet another of Offoh’s ‘grouses’ with the IMT, his employers. The former Acting Head of the Department of Languages reportedly collected cash advances totaling N55,175,473.00 way back in 2010 and has refused or, well, failed to retire the money till now. When, following a report by the State Auditor-General, the Governing Council issued a query to Mr. Offoh on the matter, he was reported to have simply dragged IMT to the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) rather than retire or refund the money. Again, unfortunately for him, the NICN dismissed his case and awarded a cost of N100,000 against him.
After three months in office, can Governor Peter Mbah and or his SSG, Prof. Onyia actually be said to know enough of the goings-on in IMT to creditably set up such a rather integrity-deficient panel as the ‘IMT Investigative Panel’, to probe the school on the strength of a petition by a man clearly pursuing equity with unclean hands?
Pray, did Governor Mbah and or his crusading SSG, for instance, know about the following court cases that Offoh had instituted against IMT and lost? Did they know about: 1) Basil Offoh Vs IMT & 5 Others. Suit No. NICN/EN/02/2018; 2) Basil Offoh Vs IMT & 2 Others. Suit No. NICN/EN/21/2021; 3) Basil Offoh Vs IMT and 2 Others. Suit No. NICN/EN/09/2022; 4) Basil Offoh Vs IMT and 7 Others. Suit No. NICN/EN/09/2023 and 5) Basil Offoh Vs IMT and Registrar. Suit No. NICN/EN/5M/2023?
Immediate past Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi…gave IMT an unprecedented face-lift
Did they know about the disruptive petitions that the man had written against the management of the IMT but all of which amounted to a waste of his time, energy and resources as all the petitions were practically thrown out the window by the agencies to which they were written? Did they know about Offoh’s petitions against the Rector to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2017 and 2018; to the Enugu Zonal Office and Abuja Headquarters of ICPC in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023; to Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB)Headquarters in 2018; to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Enugu, in 2020; to Department of State Services (DSS), Enugu Office, in 2019 and 2021 and to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Kaduna, in 2019?
Did they know also about his petitions to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), Headquarters, Abuja in 2019 and 2020; to the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Enugu State, in 2018 and 2022; to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2022 and 2023 and to the Visitor and Executive Governor of Enugu State in 2023? Did they know that none of these 10 petitions written over a period of seven years was of any moment in the estimation of the agencies and personalities so petitioned?
Incumbent Governor Peter Mbah…probing IMT in a haste, without the full picture?
If they did, then there must be something enviably special about the man that despite such information at their disposal, they still found it worth their while to pay Offoh such weighty official heed. Indeed, for a man who has had, between 2013 and 2023 (whole 10 years), suspensions slammed on him by his employers for about eight out of those 10 years, no thanks to “a number of misconducts unexpected of an academic staff of a polytechnic,” Mr. Basil Offoh must have a special hold on Governor Peter Mbah and or his SSG, Professor Chidiebere Onyia, for them to practically jettison all attributes of objectivity and fairness in governance processes to, as it were, do his bidding.
Whatever the reason, I still find it inconceivable that Governor Mbah would stake his personal integrity and sense of equity, justice and fairness to act rather unreflectively on a petition by Mr. Offoh, to the extent of setting up a probe panel seething with so much ill-will, even animosity, towards one section of the State, a section as large and politically significant as Enugu North but without a single member on the panel. Such malice!
As they say, those who come to equity must come with clean hands. For me, the ‘IMT Investigative Panel’ is rendered nugatory already, thoroughly diminished, by its obvious bias against the people of Enugu North. Worse still, the person on the strength of whose petition against the management of IMT the ‘Investigative Panel’ was set up is seeking equity with unclean hands – as has been clearly seen! And things just don’t work that way.
What, then, to do? Either make the panel more representative or disband it outright.
