The Rescue Support Initiative (RSI) has appealed to the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, to intervene in the three-month suspension of the provost of Federal College of Education (FCE) Obudu, Dr. Richard Utubaku.
Country director for the group, Barr. Ayie Okpa, made the appeal while reacting to the provost’s suspension in an interactive session yesterday in Calabar.
The group’s Country Director, Barr. Ayie Okpa, alleged that the suspension of the provost by the Governing Council was marred by procedural breaches and unfair treatment.
According to Okpa, the Governing Council’s decision to suspend Dr. Utubaku without following due process raised questions about the legitimacy of the action.
“We are not claiming that the embattled provost is a saint who cannot be faulted or too important to be suspended,what we are saying is that there was procedural breach in his suspension”, the group maintained.
Specifically, the group pointed out that Dr. Utubaku was served a query two days after his suspension, which they argued was a violation of his right to fair hearing as enshrined in Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.
The suspension was reportedly over allegations of auctioning unserviceable vehicles without due process.
The group stated that Dr. Utubaku was slammed with suspension order despite his claims that he followed proper procedures.
The group believes that the suspension may have been premeditated, given that Dr. Utubaku was not given the opportunity to appear before a panel or receive a query before his suspension.
The group however urged the education minister to probe the manner in which the provost was suspended alleging that due process wasn’t followed, so as to protect Dr. Utubaku’s rights.
They argued that a probe may determine whether the suspension was justified and help address the perceived injustice.
