Legal Battles Mar Credibility of Senator as UNIPORT Alumni President
- BOT, NEC Risk Sack Over Alleged Irregularities, High Handedness By Transition Czar
Aggrieved.members of the University of Port Harcourt Alumni Association have dragged the purported new National Executive Council (NEC) and the embattled Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) Mr Tonye Princewill, and his predecessor, Dr Alex Oti, the Governor of Abia State, to court, for failing to abide by extant laws in their constitution, in the just concluded national convention which held at Umuahia, the Abia State Capital on June 2ol0th to 22nd, 2025.
A writ of summons was slammed on the accused parties, by w bailliff of a Port Harcourt High Court, early Monday morning, July 14th, 2025, at the Alumni National Secretariat in Choba, Obio Akoo Local Government of Rivers State, accusing the defendants of unlawfully assembly for failing to abide by the association’s constitution at its recent national convention to “select” and not “elect” a new National Executive Council (NEC) and the subcequent charade of appointing a six-man Board of Trustees (BOT) in flagrant disregard for laid down guidelines of the association’s grund norm.
The claimants allegedly accused one Mr Paul Abbey who acted in defiance to laid down laws of the association by cherry picking his lackeys as leaders for the alumni association, even with constant cautions from concerned members, against his self-styled despotism of running the association’s transitional government, after the expiration of the four-year tenure of his BOT, where he functioned as Secretary, from 2019 to 2025 (six years against a four-year tenure as envisaged by the alumni constitution.
“Paul Abbey runs the Uniport Alumni Association as his personal property without any inkling to abide by the constitution. He appoints whomsoever he wished without consultations with relevant organs on the association as enshrined in the bye laws on zoning and appointments.” An aggrieved member who was not part of the claimants told our correspondent in an interview to ascertain the veracity of the suit.
“For instance, look at the purported NEC and BOT. Five members from Mr Abbey’s Kalabari tribe are installed as NEC and BOT Chairman. And let me shock you. Most of these cherry picked members are not even registered members in the association as most of them have not even attended one meeting in their state chapters before their singular appointment into positions of trust in UPAA! For instance his BOT Chairman.” the aggrieved member continued.
“Abbey is partisan and a tribal bigot. UNIPORT is a Federal University, not a Kalabari High School Kangaroo Republic, where the embattled BOT Chairman – Mr Tonye Princewill – a failed former Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State in 2014; and a brother to Mr. Abbey from Kalabari Ijaw stock of Rivers State. The embattled National Secretary – Mrs Phil Biobele – who is also a defendant in the suit, is of Kalabari origin but married to an Igbo man in Abuja – that is why she bears Okoroafor as surname but she is of Kalabari stock. The purported National 1st Vice President (Mr Dagogo Edmundson) and the National Financial Secretary (Mr Alamonia Ibiene) are both also from the same tribe of Kalabari. All because the then BOT Secretary, Paul Abbey, who called the shots then and now, is from Kalabari,” the member did not stop there to give bite to his concerns of bigotry.
“Abbey did everything within his powers illegally, to select these crew and it is only right that the claimants seek redress in court to squash his Kalabari Republic in the National Alumni body.”
The new embattled UPAA BOT and NEC led by a controversial fractional Labour Party National Secretary, one Senator Darlington Nwokocha, who has myriads of cases in Nigerian courts, on the Labour Party debacle with Mr Abure and co, risked being dissolved as the claimants are set to prove their case in court when the legal appearances begin in earnest.
Accompanied by affidavits and statement of claims, the aggrieved claimants are citing several malfeasances and constitutional breaches as well as constant cautions issued to the erstwhile Transition BOT Secretary, Mr Abbey, who acted like a tyrant, calling the shots, without recourse to abide by laid down guidelines in the constitution.
“Not even the rules as set by Mr Abbey’s hand picked Electoral Committee, led by one Mr Ben Willie Owuapu – another Kalabari tribesman appointed by Mr Abbey – who conducted the alleged sham polls, as he was also slammed the writ of summons, to appear before the High Court to defend his actions as the Electoral czar, that conducted the elections at the convention without adhering to extant guidelines due to pecuniary interests as dictated by Mr Abbey himself from the side lines.'” a concerned alumni member chipped in with our correspondent in Port Harcourt.
The last is yet to be heard as the legal fireworks begin.
As of the time of this report, the four claimants have been removed from the groups national platform by the embattled National Secretary, Mrs Okoroafor, who for obvious reasons, have taken her vexation to the members for resorting to the courts to seek redress and return sanity to the once virile unique alumni association.
Meanwhile, the embattled leadership of the alumni association has been put on notice over a nother separate legal debacle itemizing the infractions of alleged financial malfeasance and lack of accountability by the embattled former BOT Secretary, Mr Abbey, for failure to adhere to global best practices of transparency, as he has been unable to account for funds realized from organizing the recent UPAA National Convention in Umuahia, at the behest of the Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti, who is also an alumnus of the University of Port Harcourt.
The second suit, by other aggrieved members, is alleging that Mr Abbey’s high handedness of solely running the transition from March 19th to June 21st, 2025, had not only jeopardized the credibility of Uniport Alumni national elections, but also fell short of any level of transparency in executing his self acclaimed mandate after the expiration of his BOT’s three years tenure.
The pre-legal notice reads in part:
“The UPAA convention in Umuahia was nothing but a farce. A comedy of the absurd. The Convention Planning Committee (CPC) and ELECO, as being dictated to by Mr. Abbey, failed to abide by extant laws of accountability by aiding and abating with the former NEC, to cover up the financial malfeasances of the immediate past national executive led by one Pastor Ule Glad and his former National Secretary (now the embattled National 1st Vice President) Mr Dagogo Edmundson.”
The writ on notice served, stated expressly that the constitution mandated the CPC to include in the programme of the convention an accountability clause where members of the outgoing NEC must account for the funds expended in their three years tenure. But nothing of such took place at the Umuahia convention.
“No form of accountability on how monies from the UPAA accounts were spent by the former NEC. Is that how an association by supposed enlightened intellectual graduates is run? And we are the persons that throw the first stones at circular politicians for corruption. While we do the worst. UPAA is indeed in a sorry state.
“Mr.Abbey is at the crux of perpetuating this one-man showmanship to run the association as his personal property. This show must stop. We are in the courts to put our monies where our mouths are. This nonsense must stop. Mr..Abbey and his apologists must be made to know that such shenanigans have no place in UPAA. It is our right as concerned members to seek redress in courts and nothing in our laws stops us from taking these legal steps to seek redresss, when our advices had fell on deaf ears.
“Mr. Abbey should know that he stands to lose his integrity, if he had any in the first place, for failing to exercise caution due to his pecuniary interests. The die is cast.” The concerned member concluded as they proceeded to the courts to join the legal conundruums.
