Matau was appointed as the Vice Chancellor of the state university while serving as the state Commissioner for Higher Education in the last administration led by former Governor Simon Lalong.
Our correspondent gathered that the vice Chancellor whose tenure is yet to elapse was removed from office alongside four other heads of tertiary institutions in the state including the Rector of the Plateau State Polytechnic, Barkin Ladi; Provost, College of Health Technology, Pankshin; Provost, College of Health Technology, Zawan as well as the Provost, College of Education, Gindiri.
Speaking on the development at the close of the 9th Regular Zonal Executive Council Meeting of SSANU which was held at the Federal University of Lafia on Thursday, the National President of SSANU, Mohammed Ibrahim, described the sacking of Prof. Matau by the Plateau State Governor as a misnomer and aberration.
While lamenting the undue treatment meted out to the sacked Vice Chancellor, Ibrahim said the action of the Governor ran foul of the laws establishing the university.
He said, “The operations of every university should be seamless and the same. There is what is called tenure appointment. So, if you appoint a Vice Chancellor, it is expected that as long as he or she is not indicted or run foul of the law, he or she is supposed to remain in office to complete the tenure of five years.
“So, if the visitor decides to remove the VC, this runs foul of the laws establishing the university and it is also antagonistic to the progress of any university across the world.
“Therefore, what we will say at this point is that probably, His Excellency, the Governor of Plateau State was not properly briefed or he was misled into this decision because of politics. And therefore, what we will add is that the VC and those that were removed should be restored immediately.
“Even if the VC was to be removed, the process and procedures should have been followed by sending a visitation panel to look into issues at the university. Anything contrary to this is a misnomer and aberration for a university.
“What we are saying is that this is not a good development for Plateau State. At this point, we will advocate that the right thing should be done, and then we will wait and see. After that, definitely, as a union, we will meet again and take the necessary actions.”
Speaking on the hardship being faced by Nigerians at the moment due to the policies of the Federal government, the SSANU National President said members of the association had decided to join the protest of the Nigerian Labour Congress slated for February 27th and 28th to express their displeasure over the high cost of living, insecurity, among other issues.
“At the current state, the economy is doing very badly, our naira is becoming worthless, the cost of living is high, insecurity is everywhere, and we have bad roads and poor governance.
“The NLC which is the umbrella body for workers is considering protesting to the world that what is happening in Nigeria is not acceptable. And SSANU as an affiliate of the NLC will key into this protest to tell our leaders that they can do better,” he added.
The governor had in the first week of February sacked the VC and others.
About two days after, Mutfwang had approved the appointment of a former Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Shedrack Best, as the new Vice Chancellor of the state varsity.
