Politicians influence appointment of Vice Chancellors, use them as returning officers to rig elections — Wike

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, has said the appointment of Vice Chancellors, who are influenced by politicians, insisting that they are used as returning officers to rig elections for the ruling party.

He, however, warned Vice Chancellors and lecturers to be wary of attempts by some politicians to use them to manipulate elections, declaring that those contemplating rig elections in Rivers State would be treated as coup plotters.

Wike spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt during the foundation laying ceremony for the ultramodern convocation arena of the University of Port Harcourt by the Rivers State Government.

He said it was worrisome that Nigeria had degenerated to the point where politicians now influence who becomes vice-chancellors of federal tertiary institutions for the purpose of rigging elections.

The governor stressed that the reason there is so much tussle these days on who becomes Vice-Chancellor of Federal universities was due to political interference.

He described a situation where lecturers who are supposed to be revered in society, willfully compromise their integrity, just to become Vice-Chancellor, who will afterwards be used to manipulate elections as disheartening.

Wike warned that any Vice-Chancellor who allowed himself to be used in rigging elections in Rivers State should be prepared for the consequences, adding that as an alumnus of the University of Port Harcourt, his business was not to play politics in the university but to contribute to its development.