Akwa Ibom State Government has set up a committee to review the expulsion of a final year, Ekpo Iniobong Isang by the Akwa Ibom State University Senate over a “derogatory and defamatory” Facebook article against the state governor, Udom Emmanuel.
Iniobong Isang with the pseunonym (Afrosix Jaara) had in a Facebook post published on November 9, 2019, told the state governor to redeem his pledge of employing first class graduates of the institution as well as giving them N100,000 each, as promised.
“May 17th, 2017, the 2nd and 3rd convocation took place that attracted men from different walks of life, parents, village heads, scholars and most importantly the Governor of Akwa Ibom State “DEACON UDOM GABRIEL EMMANUEL” were he promised to give the graduands double of the amount given by the school and also give jobs to the first class graduands,” the final year student wrote in the fateful Facebook post.
“Each graduands that was given 50k by the school will receive 100k from the governor. It’s 2 years and 166 days since he promised, yet none of the graduands received a naira even the first class graduands were unattended to when they went to his office.
“It’s 2 years and 166 days since he promised, yet none of the graduands received a naira even the first class graduands were unattended to when they went to his office.”
Reacting to the post, the Akwa Ibom University in a letter written on 9th April 2021 to announce his expulsion, ruled that the post was a breach of the matriculation oath and a violation of the regulations enshrined in the Student Information Handbook.
In the letter signed by John E. Udo, the registrar of the school, they also directed the chief security officer to deny him access to the institution henceforth.
The student is however contesting the decision and had written the university to retract the expulsion or his legal representative, Inibehe Effiong would commence legal proceedings in 7 days.
Government sets up committee
Following the controversy the situation has gathered in the past days, the Akwa Ibom State government has set up a five-man committee to review the expulsion.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Idongesit Etiebet, in a statement on Wednesday said that Mr Emmanuel was not aware of Mr Ekpo’s expulsion.
“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to state emphatically that the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, was not aware of Iniobong’s expulsion, as such a matter had not previously been brought to his attention,” she said.
“In the meantime, students of the state-owned institution are advised to be law-abiding and go about their normal academic activities without any fear of intimidation.”
