Controversy has broken out at Ahmadu University (ABU), Zaria, following an allegation by a lecturer in the university, who is also the Publisher and Group Editor-in-Chief of Education Monitor Group of newspapers, Mallam Waziri Isa Adam, that the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kabiru Bala, issued three queries to him for criticising the institution’s activities within one minute.

According to Adam, the three queries were issued to him a few months to the expiration of the vice chancellor’s five-year tenure.

Adam, who is a lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, said “hawks around the vice-chancellor and major beneficiaries of his administration, who are obsessed with my consistent watchdog role in the university, are behind this new wave of hostility.”

He added: “They have long been insisting that the vice chancellor should silence me, an action they believe will be welcomed and celebrated by his admirers and foot soldiers as one of his greatest legacies.

“To achieve this, I, the publisher, who is also a lecturer at the Mass Communication department of the university, was issued three queries on the same day, within one minute, to explain within 48 hours why disciplinary action should not be taken against me for writing stories that allegedly portray the university in bad light.”

The queries, signed by the Institution’s Deputy Registrar, Human Resources Administration, Dalhatu Salihu, which were made available to journalists, cited some of the reports by Adam with headlines such as ‘Mysterious Fire Engulfs ABU Cash Office’, ‘Handover Protocol…’, and ‘Yayale’s Appointment As ABU Pro-Chancellor: VC’s Camp Celebrate Appointment, Hopes to have Chair on its Side’.

The queries claimed that the reports were malicious, outrageous, false and culpable of inciting members of the university against itself.

Meanwhile, in his reply to the queries, dated June 7, 2024, Adam expressed his willingness to offer explanations regarding the reports, but requested clarifications on the specific paragraphs that were deemed malicious, stating that “without this information, it was challenging to provide a comprehensive response.”

He further urged “the university to specify the offending sections and explain how they allegedly incite violence or harm against the university.”

Adam said he viewed the queries as a deliberate attempt to stop him from publishing his “much awaited, deeply researched and revealing Special Report on the vice chancellor’s five years stewardship.”

He also expressed “shock and bewilderment at the unusual delivery of the queries to my residence by stern-looking university staff, who appeared to be security operatives, around 6:05pm”, while querying, “their motive for coming to my house late in the evening with handcuffs.”

“Why the urgency in delivering the letter to me amid my family? Why couldn’t they wait to deliver it to me the following day in my office or during working hours in the department?

“Any disciplinary action without clear justification would not only be unjust but would also contradict principles of academic freedom and press freedom, and would be challenged in a court of competent jurisdiction,” he warned.

Confirming the queries the authorities at ABU said the don has gone a long way to put the name of the institution in bad light through his publications, hence the action.

The ABU Director of Public Affairs Directorate, Mallam Awwalu Umar, who spoke with The Guardian on the matter, said: “The university cannot be watching as one its lecturers continue to put the institution in bad light through unsubstantiated writings in order to discredit the university in the eyes of the public.

“The lecturer, who is an assistant lecturer in the Mass Communication department, has written three reports in his magazine putting the university in bad light and without seeking the side of the university in his reports.

“There was one report by him last December, where he alleged that fire engulfed the cash office of the university whereas such a thing didn’t happen. It was a small part of my office in the directorate where we used to keep obsolete computers and other items that was affected by fire. This lecturer went ahead in his magazine and said it was the cash office; trying to create a negative impression in the eyes of the public. He did not once get the side of the university in all the unsubstantiated reports.

“The university cannot sit down and watch one of its staff continue to behave in a manner that will continue to put the university in bad light without being queried.”