Ex-Council Member Wants Fresh Investigation of Kadpoly

Chief Ben Ezeibe, a member of the Kaduna Polytechnic Council, has called for a fresh visitation panel to re-investigate what happened in the institution between 2004 and 2010.

Addressing a news conference in Enugu recently, Ezeibe accused the Federal Ministry of Education of bias and complicity in reaching decisions to dissolve the council without granting fair hearing to the stakeholders.

He said the panel failed to establish the complicity or otherwise of the members, who were alleged to have mismanaged funds without establishing what they had done wrongly.

Ezeibe said he had since forwarded a petition to the Senate, through its President, Sen. David Mark, demanding, among other things, that if he had not done anything wrong, his name should be cleared.

He wondered why the panel claimed that N200 million and N50 million loans were obtained by the Council but did not confirm that the money was used to settle unbudgeted allowances of striking teachers.

Ezeibe also wants the panel’s report to be withdrawn as it did not establish any wrong doing.

This, he noted, was because the purported “viable ventures’’ noted by the panel turned out to be drain pipes through which the school’s treasury was looted as revealed by the audited cash flow submerged by the panel.

“I want to formally ask that I specifically be exculpated of any wrong doing, as the panel failed to disclose any areas of my failures or indictment.

He also said that he should be recommended for re-appointment to another board as chairman to prove his capabilities.

In reaction, Dr Yuwanna Mivanyi, a former rector of the polytechnic, said the allegation of “complicity’’ as contained in the panel’s report was vague.

“The panel ought to have been categorical in its conclusions by apportioning blames, where appropriate. This was not done, especially in a matter where financial misappropriation was alleged’’.