The V.C of IMSU, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, conversant with cases and incidences of certificate racketeering in the embattled Imo State owned University, inaugurated a panel headed by Prof. J.B.N Nnadozie to investigate and identify the cartel that had brought opprobrium to the university peddling fake and unauthorized degree certificates. Nnadozie had Mrs Pearl Ebiringa from Mbaise as panel Secretary.
The investigating panel/committee on certificate racketeering was acclaimed for doing a thorough job after they had summoned all the suspects including the Registrar then, Barr. Ifeanyi Aniche.The said Aniche in his capacity as Registrar was a statutory signatory to the certificates and custodian of the University seal. Also before the panel was Barr. Ifeanyi Aniche’s PA, Mr. Ogazi Victor, who testified to having accessory to the scandal but added he was mere proxy and acted on the instructions and the directives of Barr. Ifeanyi Aniche.
Among the findings were that the racketeering was done to the knowledge and tacit approval of the former Acting V.C. Prof. B.E.B Nwoke who according to revelations merely told the culprits to desist from continuing sales of such fake certificates when he should have ordered arrests and prosecution. Mr. Victor Ogazi testifying before the panel, disclosed how he was used by the former Registrar Barr. Aniche Ifeanyi to collect money from beneficiaries of IMSU fake degree certificates. Among these beneficiaries were top political office holders within and beyond Imo State and elected members of Imo legislature. In addition, Victor Ogazi informed the Prof. JBN Nnadozie led fact finding panel that he was only given peanuts in appreciation of his efforts and steadfastness in collecting such payments on the directives and authorization of his boss, Barr. Ifeanyi Aniche.
Meanwhile the panel in their report and recommendations indicted the then Vice Chancellor who was also banned from holding sensitive position again, in Imo State University having failed to act decisively when his attention was drawn to the certificate racketeering.According to Community watchdog sources,the cat was let out of the bag by the University librarian and current Commissioner for Environment, Prof. Okeyy Okoro. Rather than dismissal as recommended by the Panel, Barr. Ifeanyi Aniche was tactically demoted to the office of Deputy Registrar and replaced by Mr Austin Igbojiekwe who was the second highest ranking Registrar in IMSU then. It was alleged that the Principal Secretary to the Governor who is a kinsman to Barr. Ifeanyi Aniche, prevailed on the Pro-chancellor to IMSU, Chief Clement Owunna who is also of Arondizuogu extraction and the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie who was still in his acting capacity, to reinstate Aniche back to his substantive position as Registrar. In order to shield the culprit from obvious embarrassment at Lake Nwaebere Campus, Owerri, the duo of Owunna and Awuzie, deployed Barr. Aniche Ifeanyi to the Faculty of Medicine, Imo State University Teaching Hospital Orlu where he presently works.
Victor Ogazi, former P.A to Aniche who was made a escape goat and dismissed out rightly while his bosses in Aniche and Prof. BEB Nwoke were given soft landing has subsequently gone to court to challenge IMSU and their authorities to prove that indeed he was responsible for the large scale certificate racketeering that rocked the university’s foundation.
As stated earlier, the scam itself was unveiled by Prof Okey Okoro the university ombudsman/Librarian who is presently in the Cabinet of Governor Owelle Rochas Okorocha as Commissioner for Environment.
Prof. Okoro had gone outside Imo State and observed that different copies of the university’s degree certificates were in circulation among various employers of labour and other job seekers. It was upon mentioning it to the then Acting VC, Ukachukwu Awuzie that the Prof JBN Nnadozie panel was set up to investigate and bring to books all those remotely or closely involved and associated with the racketeering. Their terms of reference included summoning and interrogating all those who were merely accessory to information about the existence of such a syndicate without acting in a manner to abort its sustenance.
It was hard, according to the panel, to believe that the then Registrar of IMSU, Ifeanyi Aniche was the mastermind. Those others in his shoes like Prof. Anthony Anwuka could become SGI after a white paper indicting report shows why Aniche is now a sacred cow.
Information made available to Community Watch Dog is that Barr. Ifeanyi Aniche has not shown commensurate remorse for throwing the image of IMSU, to the mud. An unrepentant technocrat imbued with acts of craftsmanship, he is bent on continuing the certificate racketeering business at the Faculty of Medicine Orlu which will eventually introduce quacks into the medical profession. It is also speculated that the duo of the Vice Chancellor and Pro-Chancellor who is a Pharmacist and Aba based Industrialist are either interested in Aniche’s money making machine or need the certificates for their political godfathers, friends, etc who over the years have used the likes of Aniche to obtain “Toronto degrees”.
When contacted on his phone via several calls and text messages, the V.C,Prof Ukachukwu Awuzie did not pick his calls and has at press time not made efforts to react to the text messages.
Courtesy: Community Watchdog Newspaper
