The sacked Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Professor Benard Odoh, has called for total compliance with the judgment of the National Industrial Court (NIC), which reinstated him as the VC of UNIZIK.

Odoh, in a statement by his media aide, Charles Otu, commended and described the judgment “As a delightful affirmation of the judiciary as indeed the very last hope of the common man.”

Professor Odoh said: “We sincerely commend the bold and courageous decision of the Court in ensuring that justice is done on the prayers duly brought before it and more for reaffirming with boldness, its indispensable role as an arbiter in resolving employment and labour disputes between an employee and his employer.

“The entire judicial process was rigorous and the Court’s verdict was for want of better words, painstaking, meticulous and profoundly thoughtful.”

Odoh, who said he was unjustly removed from office” as a result of a false allegation that he was not a professor and thus unqualified to be a Vice-Chancellor”, said “all eyes were on the concerned parties to enforce the Judgement so as to lay to rest the prolonged leadership imbroglio that has bedevilled the institution.

He said that the judgment ordered all the defendants to accord him all his rights and privileges as a Professor.

“The judgment of the National Industrial Court, Abuja Division was emphatic that all the rights and privileges accorded the Claimant, Professor Benard Odoh be restored and accorded him by all the seven defendants in the suit which includes; The Federal University, Gusau, the National University Commission, the Federal Ministry of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University and some individuals occupying sensitive offices relating to the matter,” he added.

Recall that Federal University GUSAU (FUGUSAU) had, in November 2024, denied having any academic relationship with Odoh, who was appointed Vice-Chancellor of UNIZIK on October 29th, 2024, insisting that he had never worked in the institution.

FUGUSAU’s Vice-chancellor, Prof. Muazu Abubakar, in a briefing, said Odoh was neither employed by the University nor appointed as a Professor. “There is no evidence of official documentation with regard to his controversial employment as a staff member of the Federal University Gusau.

“The Federal University, Gusau, wishes to state in unequivocal terms that from available records, Odoh has not, and has never been its tenured staff, let alone being confirmed as a Professor by the institution,” he said.

Odoh, who consequently instituted a legal action at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, with suit number NICN/ABJ/434/2024 in November 2024, said he would leave no stone unturned to seek legal redress in a court of competent jurisdiction “on the very weighty and damaging allegations against his person and unblemished records.”

Justice Emmanuel Subilim, while delivering the judgment, declared that Odoh was duly employed, assessed by three professors and promoted to a full-fledged Professor of the institution by the Governing Council of Federal University Gusau.

The judge ruled that Professor Odoh was an employee of the 1st Defendant (Federal University, Gusau), was duly promoted to the post of Professor of Geological Sciences with a valid and subsisting letter of appointment.

Justice Subilim also ordered FUGUS to write an apology letter to the Claimant and publish the same in national newspapers, while also awarding N5M only as general damages by the 1st Defendant to the Claimant, while striking out the Federal Ministry of Justice as a party in the suit.