1 week ago
3
Associate Professor and former lecturer at the University of Uyo, Inih Ebong, who was victimised by the university for 22 years, shares his experience with PATRICK ODEY
How did the problem that led to your sacking by the University of Uyo begin?
This is quite a long story, but I will try to cut it short as much as possible because it will take us to the year that I transferred my service from the University of Jos to the University of Uyo. At that time, there was an industrial crisis at the University of Uyo against the pioneer Vice Chancellor, Prof. Fola Lasisi.
Lasisi is a Yoruba man; so, there was a campaign of calumny to get him out (of the university as VC), when he was due for a second term. That was the time VCs had two terms of five years. Upon my arrival, the UniUyo branch of the Academic Staff Union of Universities wanted to coerce me to join the campaign, and I said, ‘No, I have not been told what this man (Lasisi) had done, and I don’t know. I have not seen any action in his administration that he has done anything (wrong). So, I am not going to join that campaign.’
On one of those occasions, they (lecturers) were demonstrating. They started chanting, ‘Before we die, the Yoruba must go.’ I said, ‘I have had enough’. My concept is that a university is not a tribalistic entity; a university is a place where people from all walks of life, all persuasions; radicals, and extremists coexist happily.
Now, because I did not join the campaign against Lasisi, I was told in no uncertain terms that whenever Lasisi left, they would deal with me. That was how it started. When Lasisi finished his tenure in 2000 and left, they were scheming to find a way to get rid of me. Now, the registrar at that time who was part of the campaign, decided to take it personally.
What role did Effiong play in your ordeal?
First, he denied me going on my annual leave, and when they saw a loophole to allow me to go on leave, they use that to terminate my appointment; they approved my going on leave. It was one of the exhibits I tendered in court.
What happened when you proceeded on leave?
When I proceeded on leave, the next thing they did was to stop my salary from August 1, 2001, and since then till date, I have not earned a kobo as salary. I didn’t have a shop, no other business. When they stopped my salary, I questioned the action and took the matter to court.
They (university management) suspended me indefinitely, and I was on half pay (basic salary only), which was not supposed to be. While the case was on, they terminated my appointment without following due process.
You said there was pressure on you to join the campaign against Prof. Lasisi. Where was this campaign coming from?
It came from ASUU, University of Uyo branch. That was why I resigned my membership of ASUU. I did boldly resign, and I don’t regret it till tomorrow. I will keep saying it when the truth is to be known.
What were the reasons for terminating your appointment?
Till today, they have not told me; the university has not told me.
But there were allegations that you were involved in a sexual scandal?
If you have read the investigation by Premium Times, you will see that they were trumped-up allegations. They tried this way to catch me, they couldn’t; they tried the other way, they couldn’t. How could I be involved in a sexual scandal when the course in question was not taught by me?
Another lecturer taught the course and then submitted the result of failure, and because I was the head of the department, they wanted me to alter the results and make it a pass mark. But I said, ‘No, over my dead body’. The court demanded evidence of sexual harassment, but a copy of the report of the so-called panel they set up to investigate the allegation had not been provided.
Up till tomorrow, the University of Uyo has not been able to furnish the court with any piece of the documents. So, sexual harassment was used as a weapon to subdue those lecturers who wanted to be upright. There is no love lost between me and the university.
How do you feel about your victory at the court?
Of course, I feel happy, not minding the fact that they have ruined my career, but what they have succeeded in doing is to affect my physical body, because I now have serious health challenges, for which I thank God for people like Femi Otedola.
On three good occasions, he sponsored my medical bills, running into millions. So, the university has destroyed my physical body, but there are two things that they have not been able to destroy: my intellect and my mind. These two are still very active and alert.
So much has been said about the Nigerian judiciary. What is your opinion about the judiciary considering your victory?
There is the lexicon that the wheel of justice grinds slowly but surely. So, they are doing well. The only thing is the delay; the delay in the judicial process is very frustrating. You file a case, particularly in the Court of Appeal, for two or three years, that case will not be mentioned. The same thing happens at the Supreme Court. It’s only in the lower courts that you file an action, and you have steady and regular trials.
Do you foresee any further delay by the University of Uyo implementing the judgment of the appellate court?
First of all, the judgment of the lower/industrial court was delivered on January 23, 2020; the university appealed against the judgment and lost. They filed another appeal against the same judgment and lost. They filed the third appeal against the judgment and lost, and then filed the fourth appeal against the judgment, which they lost.
Now, the Court of Appeal is the final court for all civil cases from the National Industrial Court. So, they can’t go to the Supreme Court; they cannot file anything again in the Court of Appeal, they cannot file again at the National Industrial Court.
Now, knowing the university for what it is, they are notorious for disobeying court orders. Well, good luck to them. Whether they like it or not, I will enforce the judgment, whether the VC likes it or not, I will enforce that judgment.
Is your activism the cause of your travails?
Of course, they don’t like my face; they don’t like what I do. The late Justice Ernest Chukwu, in one of the cases against the university brought before his Lordship when he was delivering judgment said ‘This is a place, where the truth is punished senselessly.’ That is from a judge and that judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
So, it stands against them; you dare not speak the truth there. That is why many people are suffering in silence. Because I spoke the truth and stood for the truth and fearlessly, they terminated my appointment. They know I have intimidating credentials, the University of Melbourne, Australia, offered me an appointment. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also offered me an appointment.
So, when the then registrar and the former vice chancellor saw it, what they did was to quickly have a disclaimer, which was published on Page 28 of the PUNCH Newspapers of Friday, July 26, 2002. They (the university) tore my photograph from a weekly magazine and used it for the publication.
They went to the then correspondent of the PUNCH, the late Haruna Acheneje, and asked him to take my photograph and publish it but Haruna refused and referred them to the headquarters, but the editor then said they should write an indemnity. So, they wrote an indemnity, indemnifying PUNCH Newspapers. I then lost my job in Melbourne and Nsukka.
You were also said to have suffered cardiac arrest. Could this be traceable to your travails at that time?
I wouldn’t say it was traceable to it; it aggravated it. Doctors gave me a 20 per cent chance of survival, but God in His infinite mercies said no, it wasn’t my time yet.
How old are you?
I am 73 years old.
When did the university stop your salary?
August 1, 2001. That is 24 years and five months now.
How much does the university owe you?
How can I come to announce the amount of money that the university owes me? Don’t you people worry about my safety and security? A man is owned 24 years and five months, and you are asking how much?
How did you cope during this long period of your travails?
Well, since they published a disclaimer and warned all potential employees not to have anything to do with me, I resigned myself to God. That was how I survived. In fact, it was a miracle. I didn’t know how it happened because I could sit here, without hope, and I needed money desperately to solve a problem, and before I knew it, somebody would send something into my account. So, that is how I have been managing and adapting to the situation.
What do you intend to do next?
The next thing is to get my money; it’s for the University of Uyo to pay that money. That is the next thing I want to do, and whether they like it or not, they must pay the money.
English (US) ·