A 500-level Agricultural Engineering student of Akwa Ibom State University, Ekpo Iniobong Isang, has sued the school management after he got suspended and expelled over his criticising message on Facebook about Governor Udom. (Read More Here).
In September 2020, Ekpo, got suspended after his article on Facebook, which criticised the Governor of Akwa-Ibom state went viral. Information reached the school management that Ekpo was a student of Akwa Ibom State University.
On the 9th of April, 2021, Ekpo received his expulsion letter from the school management.
His expulsion letter reads:
"At its 69th meeting held on Wednesday, 31st March, 2021, the Senate of Akwa Ibom State University deliberated on the report from the Students Disciplinary Committee. You will recall that you had appeared before the said committee on a case of publication of derogatory and defamatory article on Facebook platform about the Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom and visitor to the University.
"This act constitutes a breach of the Matriculation Oath and Violation of the University rules and regulations enshrined in the student information Handbook. You're hereby expelled from the university for this act of gross misconduct which constitutes a breach of the Matriculation Oath.
"You're required to submit to the Dean, Division of Students Affairs your student identity card and any other property of the university in your possession before your exit from the University."
Now, Ekpo Isang, has decided to sue the management of Akwa Ibom State University through a top lawyer in Akwa-Ibom state, by name, Barrister Inibehe Effiong. Part of the suing letter reads:
"At no time did the Akwa Ibom State University invite or summon our client to appear before the university’s Students’ Disciplinary Committee prior to his indefinite suspension. Our client was not shown, confronted or availed with the purported abusive post.
"It is apparent that the university acted in contravention of Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
“Consequently, we hereby demand the following: immediate and unconditional reinstatement of our client; restoration of all studentship rights accruable to all students of the university; and the payment of the sum of N20m to our client, representing damages for the gross breach of our client’s fundamental human rights and the resultant depression he has suffered.”
Ekpo had this to say after receiving his expulsion letter:
“My ordeal started in September 2020 two days after the university announced resumption after the COVID-19 lockdown; my sister called me from Lagos that I had been suspended indefinitely. The reason for the suspension was that I refused to honour an invitation from the Students’ Disciplinary Committee.
“I went to the school to meet the secretary to the CSO and other persons. They told me that they hadn’t seen any letter of indefinite suspension. I returned to my department to get the original copy of the letter. Since they said I refused to honour an invitation, I asked my department to show me the invitation letter. The department and the HoD responded that they didn’t receive any invitation.
"I wrote to the Students’ Disciplinary Committee that I didn’t receive any invitation. I continued with my exams. By November, the committee had yet to invite me for any hearing. I went to the school on November 16 only to see a second invitation letter by the committee. When I asked the committee for a copy of the first letter, I was told to get out. They gave me a second invitation letter without the first.
“In January, they pasted my picture on the school gate without any indication that they had found me guilty. I got a third invitation. When I rushed to the meeting, they told me that I was not supposed to be invited that it was a wrong invitation. I continued to attend classes, because they did not give me a proper letter of suspension. I have taken my first semester 500-level exams already. My last meeting with them was on March 3. They didn’t prove in any way that there was any defamation of character. I got an expulsion letter on June 15, 2021."
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