Arthur Greene
For most people, university is a place where differing ideas and points of view are not just acceptable, but encouraged.
Those people have clearly never been to Akwa Ibom State University in Nigeria.
In April, the university expelled a final year student for criticising the Akwa Ibom State Governor. But the student is fighting back.
Iniobong Ekpo, who was studying for a degree in Agricultural Engineering, has given the university a week to reinstate him or he will take legal action.
Ekpo was expelled for writing a “derogatory and defamatory article” in 2019 on Facebook about the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel.
In the article, he accuses Emmanuel of not fulfilling a promise he allegedly made in 2017 to give financial rewards to the then graduating students of the university.
“It’s 2 years and 166 days since he promised, yet none of the graduates received a naira,” wrote Ekpo under the pseudonym Afrosix Jaara.
The university said in its expulsion letter that Ekpo’s article was a “breach” of the matriculation oath and a violation of the university rules and regulations laid out in the Student Information Handbook. The university also said that Ekpo had appeared before a disciplinary hearing.
But in a letter written to the university by the lawyer representing Ekpo, Inibehe Effiong, he alleges that the university never gave him a fair hearing.
The letter says that Ekpo was never invited to attend a disciplinary hearing.
As well as being reinstated as a student at the university, he is demanding N20 million (R690,000) in damages from the institution.
Ekpo told the Premium Times on Monday that he has no regrets regarding the matter, and has vowed to pursue the case.
