Agua-Onyekwelu led UNN alumni writes MOUAU VC to dissociate self from dissident group

By Chris Nnadi

The University of Nigeria Alumni Association (UNAA) has written to the Vice-Chancellor, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU), Abia State, Prof. Maduebibisi Iwe, advising him to dissociate himself and the university from a purported 115th National Executive Council (NEC) Meeting/Emergency Convention by a group it allegedly referred as dissident in the association.

The letter, dated December 1, 2024, was jointly signed by Dr. Linda Agua-Onyekwelu, and Tony Chukwu, National President and National Secretary of UNAA, respectively.

It noted that an invitation in the name of the association to the VC to chair and present a keynote speech at the NEC meeting of the said group, scheduled to be held from December 5 to 8, 2024 at Senator Pius Anyim Auditorium, MOUAU, was not being organised by Agua-Onyekwelu-led group, which according to the letter is the mainstream UNAA.

The letter, captioned “Call for Dissociation from a Purported 115th National Executive Council Meeting/Emergency Convention by a Dissident Group of UNAA,” read:

“We wish to inform you and the entire Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike community, that the purported 115th National Executive Council Meeting/Emergency Convention to which you have been invited as Chairman/Keynote Speaker, and which is scheduled to hold from December 5 to 8, 2024 at the Senator Pius Anyim Auditorium, MOUAU, is not being organised by the mainstream UNAA led by its National President Linda Agua-Onyekwelu, but by a dissident group in 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 the University of Nigeria and others over the illegal imposition of leadership on the association by the former Vice Chancellor, Prof Charles 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.

“The 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. They have been rightly labeled alumni jobbers.

“May it also be known that the present management of the University of Nigeria led by the acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Polycarp Chigbu, who is listed as a 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 Vice Chancellors: Prof. Awuzie U. Ukachukwu, former ASUU National President, former Vice Chancellor, Imo State University (IMSU); Prof. Aloysius Okolie, Vice Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT); Prof C. C. Eze, Vice Chancellor, Imo State University of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Umuagwo; Prof. I. D. Dozie, Vice Chancellor, K. O. Mbadiwe University, Imo State, and eminent scholars and administrators of University of Nigeria. The University of Nigeria’s acting VC, 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 a co-host of its purported NEC Meeting/Emergency Convention. The Committee swung into action and called for memoranda from the two groups, the Linda led group submitted within the given one week while the dissident group has not submitted any documents up till now, instead they are 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 letter calling for memoranda from the two UNAA groups is attached hereto for your information.

“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 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 plan 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 purports to be National President of UNAA wrote to her factional Board of Trustees (that she unilaterally constituted by altering UNAA’s constitution) informing it of the lingering UNAA crisis and urging it to step in and resolve it. After the BOT led by an eminent Justice of the court of appeal, Biobele Abraham Georgewill, sent in its proposed terms of settlement, the same Lady Okoroh and a few of her cohorts rejected the terms of settlement made by the BOT she constituted, for whatever will cut her off from prominence is not welcome to her. Copy of the letter by Lady Okoroh to the BOT and the proposed terms of settlement by the BOT sent across to the mainstream UNAA for consideration are also attached here 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 emboiled with issues of contempt of court. Even the guests and awardees should please take note.”