UNICAL VC, Professor Florence Obi.
By Anietie Akpan
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria sitting in Calabar on July 23, issued an order restraining the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and its Governing Council from proceeding with the ongoing selection process for a new Vice-Chancellor.
Accordingly the court directed all parties to maintain the status quo, refraining from any action that could jeopardise the fair hearing of the suit. and fixed August 7, 2025 for hearing of the motion on notice at the Abuja Division.
In Suit No. NICN/CA/40/2025 filed by Professor Joseph Eyo Duke, the claimant is challenging the advertisement published on 27 May 2025 which stipulated that applicants must possess at least 10 years of post-professorial experience.
Prof. Duke argued that this requirement emanated from an emergency council meeting held on 25 March 2025, which he described as “unlawful…that the criterion is rooted in a non-existent regulation”.
The motion ex-parte, dated and filed on 21 July 2025, sought an interim injunction restraining UNICAL and its Governing Council from enforcing or acting upon the advertisement pending determination of the motion on notice.
Upon hearing counsel to the claimant, Ubong Akpan, Esq., Hon. Justice Sanusi Kado granted accelerated hearing of both the motion on notice and the substantive suit.
He also ordered the transfer of the matter to Abuja to be heard by a vacation judge.
The court order, signed and sealed by its registrar, Egba Juliet Peter, explicitly restrained the University and its Governing Council from taking any further steps in the Vice-Chancellorship selection process pending determination of the motion.
The development has temporarily stalled UNICAL’s succession process, which was scheduled to produce a new Vice-Chancellor by the end of the current administration’s tenure in December 2025.
Recall Professor Duke and some others have argued that over the past 25 years, UNICAL has adopted a consistent and inclusive pattern for this very requirement, saying from 2000 to 2020, candidates were required to have been professors for between five and nine years before becoming Vice Chancellor.
They said, Prof. Ivara Esu (2000) was five years, Prof. Bassey Asuquo (2005) five years, Prof. James Epoke (2010) seven years, Prof. Zana Akpagu (2015) seven years and Prof. Florence Obi (the incumbent) (2020) nine years.
