By Amos Aar
A Group composedmainly by youths under the aegis of Otukpo Redemption Forum, on Monday staged a peaceful protest calling for the resignation of Prof. Innocent Ujah, the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences (FUHSO), Otukpo, the traditional headquarters of Idoma, Benue State.
In a video clip shared by EbonyNaija MediaBlog, the protesters accused the Vice Chancellor of imposing high tuition fees which they alleged is beyond the reach of many indigenes of Otukpo.
In addition to the high tuition fees, the protesters, who carried placards with different inscriptions, complained of lack of accommodation, denial of their rights to gain employment and appointment in the university located in their land as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
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Some of the placards read: “Prof. Ujah Must Go”, “FUHSO VC Runs School Like A Private Entity,” among others.
The Otukpo Redemption Forum alleged that indigenes of the host community could not afford the fees, making the university to be dominated by non-indigenous students who are financially capable.
One of the protesters, Edache Onjefu, who spoke in the video, said: “we are here this morning to ensure that we right the wrongs done by the professor heading this university”.
Edache further accused FUHSO under Prof. Ujah of appointing alleged mediocre staff who he said are incapable of running the institution well.
“The university that has just come on board, professorships are being given at dinner parties. How do you give a professor to somebody at a dinner party? Somebody who has not done academic works to say one or two things in a classroom room, has not published any academic journal and today, that person is a professor…”
Edache, who also faulted Ujah of alleged lopsided appointments and displayed a banner in which the group outlined various allegations of perceived wrongs by FUHSO against the host community, alleged that FUHSO Teaching Hospital alone is being run by people of Agatu local government origin.
Another protester who did not introduce himself in the video added that even cleaners are given to Agatu people without considering the host community.
National Record gathered from a source in Otukpo who pleaded anonymity that although Prof. Innocent Ujah hails from Okpokwu local government, he is condoning the alleged nepotism being allegedly perpetrated by the Chief Medical Director of FUHSO Teaching Hospital.
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The group also alleged that it had made several efforts to dialogue with FUHSO’s management to no avail, further alleging that the VC rather insulted them at one of the meetings that they are ‘unserious’, as they were around but Otukpo town was robbed.
Although the VC was said to have been unavailable at the time of the protest, Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, Prof. Steven Abah, who addressed the protesters, promised to convey their message to the VC, adding that a roundtable dialogue will be held with them within 14 days to resolve the issues pointed out.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of Otukpo was also on ground to ensure that the protest remained peaceful.
