Unbelievable As OKOPOLY Expels Campus Reporter For Reporting News

      

      

For practicing   journal­ism on campus, Emeka Onwudinjo, a second year   student of Mass Communication, Federal Poly­technic, Oko, Anambra State, has been sent packing from the school. He bore the reporter’s cross on November 14, 2013 when the management of the school decisively expelled him for reporting the institution in ‘bad light’.

Onwudinjo, a campus reporter with the Campus Sun of the Daily Sun and Campus Life published by the Nation newspaper, told our re­porter that he was falsely accused of working for opposition groups by publishing both print and online versions of stories that the manage­ment of the institution considered ruinous to its good image.

Part of Onwudinjo's sins, ac­cording to our findings, was his courageous reporting of the activi­ties of the local branch of the Aca­demic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), who has been tugged in a running battle with the school management over staff welfare, management of the school and other contentious issues.

Onwudinjo said he became the scapegoat for having a flair for jour­nalism and coverage of events on campus. His greatest shock came when an official letter announc­ing his outright expulsion from the school was handed over to him be­fore the Christmas break. The let­ter, which was made available to Campus Sun, signed by the Head of Department, Academic Affairs, Nwangwu D.U on behalf of the Registrar, Tony Olih Nwaokolobia, stated as follows;

"Management studied your pub­lished articles in the national dailies (print and online version) that paint­ed the institution in the (sic) bad light. You were called, advised sev­eral times to desist from publishing negative stories about the institution which you want to obtain its certificate. You did not heed to the advise (sic). Management directed that you be expelled. I am therefore directed to inform you that you are expelled from Federal Polytechnic, Oko."

Our reporter gathered that the series of entreaties to the management to rescind the decision fell on deaf ears, as the Rector of the polytechnic, Prof Godwin Onu, remains unbending. Our reporter authoritatively gathered that some key academic staff members insisted that the expulsion was uncalled for and repeatedly pleaded with the Rector to reverse the expulsion, but to no avail.

The Zonal Coordinator of the ASUP, Zone D, Anderson Ezeibe, also faulted the decision to expel a student for living out the spirit of his chosen profession. He said such case is unheard of in the present democratic dispensation and urged the management of the polytech­nic not to set a wrong precedence. "We are interested in the matter, we condemned the action. We arc worried about the decision by the management. We need to exhaust all internal mechanisms. We hope to appeal to the governing council. We will make a formal presentation to the chairman of the council on this matter," he said.

Another     lecturer,     who pleaded anonymity, described the decision of the institution as ridiculous, noting that no teacher would dish out such punishment to his student for putting into practice the lessons he was taught in the classroom.

"The boy is innocent. He is being punished for no just cause. He has done much more of im­age laundering for the school in the past. Go through his stories and you will see for your­self. The stories they consider   negative   are usually ASUP stories. The resolu­tions of the union are summed up in the communiqué which every­body can take up and write a story. News remains news and an attempt to colour it makes it artificial. He publishes issues that concern the institution because he is a student and there is no reason for him to be punished," he said.

Our reporter gathered that repeat­ed pleadings to the management of the institution to rescind the decision met a brick wall. Not even a letter of apology by the traumatized student to the Rector, Prof. Godwin Onu, oculd soften his heart.

In the letter of apology titled, Expulsion from Federal Polytechnic, Oko: Save my Soul, Onwudinjo appealed to the Rector to withdraw the letter, as he denied allegations that he was working for opposition groups fighting the school manage­ment.

"I became a campus journalist after my first semester in the Poly­technic. It was my desire to practise what I was taught in class that made me take up this task. Luckily, I found favour before line editors of the education and campus pages of The Sun and The Nation newspapers, and since then, they have been motivational. I have been sending these stories, without any reward from anybody. 

"Seeing my stories published was enough motivation to me. I never asked for more reward. Because these dailies circulate widely, my stories and that of my colleagues across Nigerian campuses have been read worldwide. Consequently, I have received commendations from different people. This singular opportunity gave me a class among my peers at the polytechnic, thereby increasing my hunger for more by­lines," he said.

Onwudinjo, in the letter to the Rector, also accused the Public Re­lations Officer, (PRO) of the institu­tion, Mr. Obini Onuchukwu Obini of threatening to expel him from the institution, if he didn't desist from reporting events in the school.

"Mr. Obini has never ceased from threatening to deal with me and even expel me, if I continued to submit my reports to the cam­pus editors, accusing me of conniving with some persons opposed to the management to rubbish the institution. He accused me of collecting money from people outside the school to divulge informa­tion on events happening in the polytechnic as if I am a member of management, or a lecturer familiar with of­ficial matters. I was accused severally of being paid to write negative stories but I stood my grounds that I never collected a dime from anybody. I have i   repeatedly told Mr. Obini that I have no business running down my school. In the classroom, I was told that journalists report both good and bad events, favour­able and unfavourable. Thus, I had responded that I report only events in the institution and as I do this, the news determinants have served as guide.

If stories were to be judged on basis of good or bad, I have done more good stories for my beloved institution than all the conventional journalise in the state put together with wide coverage in two of the leading national dailies in Nigeria— The Sun and The Nation. As a result, I have received text messages from the Mr. Obini commending me for "good journalism". I have never demanded any reward from my in­stitution or any person as my lectur­ers admonish us that such unethical practices must not be found among us.

He has not told me which story is bad to have earned me an expulsion at final year."

He further pleaded with the man­agement not to kick him out of the institution, saying, "I have reflected on some of the commendations from the Rector, Prof. Onu and Mr. Obini on some stories I wrote and cannot reconcile it with the present situation I find myself. I am not in any way funning the image of the school down as alleged. Rather, I have been zealous to practise what my lecturers are teaching me in the classroom. I believe that publication of divergent views and all shades of public opinion is an important aspect of our training.

It has been my view that Mass Communication students should be allowed to experience this aspect of their training. I am depressed and 1 am asking your intervention in this matter, for the management to withdraw the letter of expulsion and allow me to continue with my academic programme."

When contacted, the new Governing Council Chairman of the school, Dr. Christian Azubike Odukwe, said he heard of the ex­pulsion but quickly added that the Council is yet to discuss the matter.

But the Public Relations Officer of the school, Obini Onuchukwu, defended the decision to expel the campus reporter. He said the deci­sion was taken after a careful analy­sis of Onwudinjo's stories that por­trayed the institution in bad light. He said further investigation revealed that the reporter was being used by some prominent union members, who are strongly on the opposition, using the reporter as a channel to give the institution a bad name.

"His write-ups have been very injurious to the institution in sev­eral ways. His publications were not professionally written because the position of the institution was never reflected in such stories. His write-ups painted the image of the institution, where he was receiving his training, in a very bad light. His write-ups about the institution were inciting and capable of triggering off' crisis among students," he said.

Onuchukwu said he repeated ad­vised Onwudinjo in his office to de­sist from such acts but he remained adamant. According to him, the Rector also advised him to retrace his steps, but he never listened.

The PRO said the school en­courages students to gain practical knowledge of the courses they are studying in the polytechnic, noting that Onwudinjo railed off" the track by abusing the freedom of the press to destroy the laudable efforts of the school management.

Unedited report By SAM OTTI of the Sun Newspapers

 (To be continued next week)