Professor Indicted for Sexual Assault to be Appointed New VC of Nigerian Federal University

 

A 55-year old Professor of Commercial Law and the current Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Uyo, Prof. Enefiok Essien, has been tapped to succeed Prof. Comfort Ekpo as the next Vice Chancellor of the university on December 1, 2015.

Court papers obtained exclusively by Premium Times, reveals that the vice chancellor-elect, Essien was indicted in 2005 for forgery and sexual assault by the Court of Appeal.

The Court of Appeal, Calabar, Cross River State, handed down the indictment on Essien on July 14, 2005 while affirming the judgment of the Federal High Court, Calabar, which nullified UniUyo’s expulsion of a female student, Linda Onyebuchi Essell, from the university over her alleged involvement in examination malpractice.

UniUyo didn’t appeal the judgment and Essell went on to complete her first degree in law and graduated from the university. She was represented at the Court of Appeal proceedings by Obiora A. Obianwu, SAN.

Essell, as at the time she was accused of examination malpractice in March, 1995, was in her second year, while Essien was a senior lecturer then. The fact of the case, according to court papers, is that Essell submitted unstamped and unsigned answer booklet during her examination in Constitutional Law (PUL 211), and for this reason the university accused her of having pre-knowledge of the examination questions and of bringing pre-written examination answers into the examination hall.

She was eventually expelled from the university, although she pleaded that she was innocent of the allegations. Essell had told the court in her affidavit.

“I did not even notice (that the answer script was unstamped and unsigned). I explained that I was thoroughly searched by the invigilators like any other student before I entered the examination hall and that I was served with the answer script in the examination hall. I did not go out of the hall throughout the duration of the examination.”

She supported her argument with an affidavit telling how Essien, the man who several years later would be appointed UniUyo’s vice chancellor, manipulated the university system against her because she had refused to accede to his love overtures.

Interestingly, it was Essien, who invigilated Essell in the PUL 211 examination. It was him who accused her of examination malpractice. It was also him who chaired the Examination Malpractice Panel that tried Essell.

The Court of Appeal faulted Essien’s chairmanship of the panel and the failure of the vice chancellor to hear from Essell before acting on the recommendations of Essien’s panel which proceedings the court said wasn’t credible.

In fact, besides stating that the record of proceedings of the panel was replete with many errors which amounted to ‘a serious breach of the fundamental rights of the respondent,’ the court held that the proceedings of the panel must have been tampered with.

“Sometimes in April, 1995 around 1pm, Essien, after our lectures on Contract of which he was the lecturer, summoned me to his office. He told me that I had the last opportunity to redeem my career which was billed for a doom by expulsion if only I could accede to his simple love overtures which will take nothing from me,” Essell said in her affidavit.

The Court of Appeal in its judgment delivered by Justice Dalhatu Adamu declared that Essell’s statements as contained in her affidavit were ‘serious indictment on Essien’.

Since there was no counter-affidavit by Essien, the court in its unanimous decision, held that Essell’s allegations ‘not having been challenged, contradicted and controverted, must be deemed to be true and correct.’

“It is surprising and strange that the said Mr. Essien who was the subject of a vicious allegation refused to swear to a counter-affidavit to challenge or contradict or controvert the allegations levelled against him by the respondent,” the court said.

The Director of Information, University of Uyo, Godfrey Essien said he wasn’t aware of the case and declined to comment when he was contacted.

Prof. Essien also refused to speak on the issue when he was contacted by telephone on Friday, saying that he had nothing to say on the matter.

However, the Pro-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Kimse Okoko, confirmed that the institution’s governing council received a petition against Mr. Essien after the selection process had ended.

He said the allegations against Essien, as contained in the court judgment were brought to the notice of the university Governing Council, in which he (Okoko) is chairman, after the council had concluded its work on the appointment of a new vice chancellor for the university.

Okoko, whose Governing Council appointed and announced Essien as vice chancellor-designate, said it was too late for the council to open an investigation into the allegations against Essien.

“I still confronted him (Essien) when I got the petition against him, and he told me that the whole court case took place when he was away in the UK for his Ph.D,” Okoko said.