UNIUYO VERDICT: WHERE ARE THE TWO DVCs? I can recall earlier this year in this column, precisely in June, when I objected the votes of confidence passed on Prof Comfort Ekpo, Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo by the School’s Senate and branch of Non Academic Staff Union (NASU); I had so many threats and criticism, as well as commendations, through phone calls and text messages, while some came physically. The fact that the threats and criticisms came from close pals and loyalists of both Aunty Commy and her Deputies was visible enough even to the blind, but trust me, none of the threats were threatening enough, in the real sense, to have moved me, and their empty threats has overtime remained the way it began. I won’t forget the critics who insisted that I should not have faulted either of the Deputy Vice Chancellors for reasons only they could understand; and with the recent unfolded event in the university, I am sure that you will either be happy or perhaps, may have found your conscience or sense of reasoning, and have consequently seen reasons with me finally. For the records, the said piece which appeared in this same column only sought genuine reasons for the passing of votes of confidence on a university management that has failed woefully in virtually every sector. I could easily understand that of the university senate; yes because they too are part of the failure, but that of the glaringly victimized NASU members, till this moment, remains a mystery to me. Most people were fast in judging the June 12 mayhem in the university from the immediate cause which was nothing away from retrieval of the usual somewhat free buses from students and subsequently giving them a more expensive alternative; but to those of us who were part of the system and had experienced part of the accumulated barbaric acts which culminated into what the angry and almost choked students displayed on June 12. This directly puts to bare the fact that the university management from all indications, caused the brutal killing of Udoette Kingsley and the consequent/subsequent damages that followed. I could not stop laughing when I heard the aunty Commy led management joining forces with security operatives to get students arrested and reprimanded, for I knew it to be a case of “pushing Adam’s blame to Eve”; and sad enough, about 90 percent of the detained students were miles away from the crime scenes. However, the good thing is that despite Mma Ekpo’s efforts to decorate her black coloured management with snow white attires, the black stripes could still stand out. Shortly after the November 12 meeting of the university governing council with leaders of the Student Union, reports got to me by some of the student leaders that the Pro-Chancellor made some announcements which included the formal sack of those who served as Dean, Student Affairs Division, Chief Security Officer and his Deputy as at the time of the riot; rustication and expulsion of some students, as well as billing the remaining students a certain amount of money as charge for the damages caused- precisely N10,000 for Engineering students and N7,500 for others. I was about moving on when I heard someone asking: how about the two DVCs? Huh! Was that question for me? It better not be, because I was actually at the verge of directing the same question to Aunty Commy. The truth about Aunty Commy’s absence is no longer a hidden one, and for all I know, had exonerated her (at least on the immediate cause of the June 12 fracas), but what I do not understand Is why the two DVCs, Prof Paul Ekwere and Prof Okon Ansa were granted amnesty when they were equally as guilty as the sacked CSO and Dean of Students. Is Prof Okon Ansa not the same person who after several fruitless pleas by the Police Officer in charge of A Division, threatened to deal with the students if they cause any form of damage in the course of their agitation? Is he not the same erstwhile Dean of Agric who was petitioned over gross incompetence which led to his coercive resignation? On what grounds was the amnesty given to them? If the Dean of Student, after series of fruitless pleas with the said Prof Ansa who, by hierarchy, is a senior management staff, decides not to address the students, why should the former be punished while the later gets a soft landing? Where was Prof Paul Ekwere throughout the hours when the movement was at its infant state? Too busy, I guess, and perhaps, tutoring his book-warming medical students in the medical faculty, even when the rest of the school was on fire. How does this act differ from that of the man who was seen “chasing rats while his house was burning”? Now I ask, did it ever appear in the thoughts of mr pro-chancellor that, despite being in charge of the academic unit, Prof Ekwere was in same position as his admin counterpart to have calmed the protesting students? He too had refused to descend from his exalted position to address the students to a calm, hence, he is equally guilty. Ofcourse there is a straight message from the bible in that regard. On the other note, what is the university going to do with the N7,500 bill on every student as charge for the damage incurred during the fracas? Come to think of it, is the Prof Okoko led governing council trying to take advantage of the fracas to exploit the entire students? According to the report made available to me by the student leaders, the committee that was set to investigate the crisis had estimated the cost of damages to about N122m; but multiplying the billed N7,500 by an estimated 30,000 students in the school, the total amount to be realized is N225m, that is, almost double of the estimated amount. My question: can Prof Okoko and his governing team tell us what will happen to the excess money realized? I am seeing a conspired attempt by the management and governing teams to get back at the students for ever building up the nerves to fight and consequently break away from their captivity. I also heard of their plans to rusticate all the students who were arrested shortly after the crisis; I see this not to be true, but if for any reason this claim is found anyway near the path of truth, then I see Prof Mma Ekpo and her team as the most unreasonable set of humans I have met in the last decade. Rusticating innocent students after keeping them in detention for over two months? Is this not a proof of how our leaders have suddenly become beasts? Has the university proven to the public that these students are indeed guilty as charged? How about the students who were innocently resting in their hostel bunks when a group of policemen raided the hostel and arrested them randomly; were they also part of the riot? I know a certain student who was among those arrested in the hostel. This boy, even from his physical appearance, one can easily tell that he cannot hurt an ant. According to him, he had no class on that day and therefore decided to stay in the hostel, and not even the whole noise about the mild protest-cum riot could make him change his mind until the hungry looking policemen came around. So if a vestige of veracity can be spotted in the young boy’s claim, how will Aunty Commy and her management team to justify his rustication? It’s obvious that the Uniuyo management still could not take caution from the first incident, and is likely to repeat past mistakes in future. However, with full consciousness of my self-appraisal instinct I have decided not to join the affected students in shouting fraud, but to seek measures towards helping the incapacitated Aunty Commy correct another possible mistake. And to achieve this, I am calling on the State Governor who has always shown his love for the student community to intervene in this situation. I know his Aide on student matters is already making moves towards getting his attention on this, but incase he delays in responding to the call through his Aide, I am equally using this medium to re-stress the urgency attached to this; and perhaps, this might make the governor respond faster to this call by students of Akwa Ibom origin who make up about 80 percent of the student population. Your Excellency, they are at it again, they have devised a new means to exploit students. The students need you to intervene and save their neck from this beautified trap, and I know you cannot pay deaf ears to it. Meanwhile, is it true that the DVC (Academics) Prof Paul Ekwere can no longer practice medicine, owing to the fact that his certificates were burnt along with his office? Dear Prof, if this is actually true, please accept my sympathy. Sincerely, I really did feel for him upon hearing of the sad event, but then, the incident, while intensively ruminating on it, reminded me of the story of a certain man who was wicked enough to have dropped a live snake in the bag of a certain poor blind beggar, lacking an infinitesimal knowledge of the fact that his son and only child was a friend to the said blind beggar, and usually stopped by his (the beggar’s) begging spot on his way back from school each day. Well, I had refused mentioning what eventually happened at the end of that story, and still have not changed my mind; but then, it might please my able Prof to be reminded of the local adage: “atok ikim idim iduoko’duok; edem ette mmi’nwongo, edem eka eya enwong”. Incase my Prof has difficulties comprehending vernacular in written form, the adage simply says that he who urinates in a stream is not wasting it; if his paternal relatives do not drink of it, his maternal fellows, sure will. It is however unfortunate that in my Prof’s case, he had to drink directly from the same stream he urinated into; and this, if you ask me, saves your paternal or maternal fellows the stress of having to pay for your sins. Culled from the SINE QUA NON column of COMMUNITY PULSE NEWSPAPERS, Tuesday, November 18th, 2013 edition, and written by UBONG SAMPSON, a Public Affairs Analyst.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 19:25:38 +0000
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