Leadership Tussle Rocks UNAA, As Members, Public Advised To Ignore Dissident Group

The leadership crisis rocking the University of Nigeria Alumni Association, UNAA has taken a new dimension as members are advised to totally ignore the Dissident group which also involve “who plans and who attends events in the name of UNAA” shakes the foundation of the association.

In the foregoing, the Vice Chancellor Prof. Maduebibisi O. Iwe, and the management of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike has been advised to dissociate themselves from the purported 115th National Executive Council (NEC) Meeting/Emergency Convention scheduled to hold from 5th to 8th December, 2024 at the Senator Pius Anyim Auditorium of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike by a dissident group of university of Nigeria Alumni Association (UNAA)

The VC, Prof. Iwe was highly admonished in a letter by the Mainstream UNAA body led by Queen Dr. Mrs. Linda Agua-Onyekwelu and dated December 1, 2024 “to shun the convention where he was invited as Chairman/Keynote Speaker” noting that “there is a pending lawsuit number: FHC/EN/CS/62/2022 before the Federal High Court Enugu between the mainstream UNAA versus the said dissident group and University of Nigeria and others”

The letter further gave insight into the ugly development that illegal imposition of leadership on the Association by the leadership of the former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Charles A. Igwe led to the two groups in the Association, hence the utmost need to thread with caution not to commit contempt of court as “the matter is still in court and the dissident group’s emergence was an act of disobedience to court order”

The letter further disclosed that the purported convention is a recent “antics to disintegrate UNAA and defraud eminent alumni and unsuspecting members of the public who may out of patriotism and lack of information donate huge sums of money which will end up in the private pockets of the organizers”

READ UP THE LETTER BELOW:

CALL FOR DISSOCIATION FROM A PURPORTED 115TH NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL (NEC) MEETING/EMERGENCY CONVENTION BY A DISSIDENT GROUP OF UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION (UNAA)

“We wish to inform you and the entire Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike community that the purported 115th National Executive Council (NEC) Meeting/Emergency Convention to which you have been invited as Chairman/Keynote Speaker and which is scheduled to hold from 5th to 8th December, 2024 at the Senator Pius Anyim Auditorium of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike is not being organized by the mainstream University of Nigeria Alumni Association (UNAA) led by its National President, Queen Dr. Mrs. Linda Agua-Onyekwelu, but by a dissident group of the Association parading itself as UNAA.

“Please, be informed also that there is a pending lawsuit number: FHC/EN/CS/62/2022 before the Federal High Court Enugu between the mainstream UNAA versus the said dissident group and University of Nigeria and others over the illegal imposition of leadership on the Association by the leadership of the former Vice Chancellor, Prof. Charles A. Igwe, which led to the two groups we now have in the Association. The matter is still in court and the dissident group’s emergence was an act of disobedience to court order.

“This purported NEC Meeting/Emergency Convention by the dissident group is yet another act of contempt of court and one further antics to disintegrate UNAA and defraud eminent alumni and unsuspecting members of the public who may out of patriotism and lack of information donate huge sums of money which will end up in the private pockets of the organizers. This, without equivocation, is the stock-in-trade of the dissident group and a part of the issues leading to disunity in UNAA.

“May it also be known that the present Management of the University of Nigeria led by the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Polycarp E. Chigbu, who is listed as co-host of the purported NEC Meeting/Emergency Convention, in the bid to resolve the UNAA crisis and reunite the Association, set up a Peace Mediation Committee made up of four (4) Vice Chancellors: Prof. U. A. Awuzie, former ASUU National President, former Vice Chancellor, Imo State University (IMSU); Prof. Aloysius M. Okolie, Vice Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT); Prof. C. C. Eze, Vice Chancellor, Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, Umuagwo; Prof. I. S. Dozie, Vice Chancellor, K. O. Mbadiwe University, Imo State; and other eminent scholars and administrators of University of Nigeria. The University of Nigeria Acting Vice Chancellor, in the meantime, has sealed the Alumni Office at the Nsukka campus of the University with a declaration that he would have nothing to do with either of the two UNAA groups. It is therefore a crime on the part of the dissident group to list the Acting Vice Chancellor as co-host of its purported NEC Meeting/Emergency Convention. The Peace Mediation Committee swung into action and called for memoranda from the two UNAA groups within one week. While the mainstream UNAA has submitted its own memorandum within record time, the dissident group, up till now, is playing hide-and-seek. Now, what we hear is the plan by the dissident group to hold NEC Meeting/Emergency Convention using your facility. A copy of the Peace Mediation Committee’s letter calling for memoranda from the two UNAA groups is attached hereto for your information.

“Furthermore, in the bid to bring sanity to the running of UNAA which ought to be a partner in progress with the Management of University of Nigeria, the Acting Vice Chancellor, who opted not to deal with either of the two UNAA groups and by implication put factional activities and programmes by either of the two UNAA groups on hold until the crisis is resolved and the Association unified, will end up being rubbished, if you allow this purported NEC Meeting/Emergency Convention to hold on your campus. You should not let your activities undermine the authorities of your colleagues at UNAA and the University of Nigeria at large. The mainstream UNAA had perfected plans for a NEC meeting in September, 2024; however, it had to respect the Peace Mediation Committee’s advice to halt all alumni activities until the unification of UNAA is achieved.

“It is important to point out that Lady Doris Okoroh, the leader of the dissident group, who parades herself as National President of UNAA wrote to her factional Board of Trustees (BOT) that she unilaterally constituted upon altering UNAA’s constitution, informing it of the lingering UNAA crisis and urging it to step in and resolve the crisis. After the BOT led by the eminent Court of Appeal Justice Biobele Abraham Georgewill sent in its proposed terms of settlement, the same Lady Doris Okoroh and a few of her cohorts rejected the terms of settlement made by the BOT she constituted, for whatsoever will cut Lady Doris Okoroh off from prominence is not welcomed by her. Copy of the letter by Lady Doris Okoroh to the BOT and the proposed terms of settlement by the BOT sent across to the mainstream UNAA for consideration are also attached hereto for your information.

“By this letter, Sir, you and the entire Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike community are hereby advised to steer clear of the purported 115th NEC Meeting/Emergency Convention in order not to be embroiled with issues of contempt of court. Even the guests and awardees should please take note.

Kind regards,

Signed:

Dr. Mrs. Linda Agua-Onyekwelu Tony Chukwu

National President National Secretary”