INVESTIGATION: How Nigerian university ruined lecturer’s career with unproven sexual assault allegations
The authorities of the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) in 2002 falsely accused a lecturer of sexual harassment just so they could kick him out of the university and destroy his blossoming career, a PREMIUM TIMES investigation has revealed. The lecturer, Inih Ebong, then an associate professor at the theatre arts department of the institution, was reputed for his resistance to and criticism of maladministration, mismanagement and corruption in the university. Akpan Ekpo, a recently retired professor of economics, was the vice-chancellor of the university at the time authorities moved unjustly against the lecturer. A certain Peter Effiong was registrar during the period. The allegation surprised many in the university given that the head of Mr Ebong’s department and Mr Effiong himself approved the lecturer’s vacation, with a valid leave certificate issued to him. That certificate is among volumes of documents Mr Ebong tendered in court in a decades-long legal battle he instituted to reverse his unjust removal from UNIUYO. The then vice-chancellor, Mr Ekpo, based on the registrar’s accusation, directed the bursar to stop Mr Ebong’s salary. Mr Ekpo then set up a panel, headed by E.D. Okon, a professor, to investigate Mr Ebong. The panel found the lecturer not guilty of the allegation of abandonment of duty and recommended that the university reverse the punishment already imposed on him. The university, however, ignored the panel’s recommendation. Rather, it suspended Mr Ebong indefinitely and placed him on half pay. On 18 December 2001, the lecturer took the matter to court. But while the case was still pending in court, the university intensified its attack on the lecturer. On 27 March 2002, the institution fired Mr Ebong, therefore plunging his 25-year teaching career, his life and those of his dependants into what seems an irreversible turbulence, documents reviewed by this reporter show.