- As Varsity Incurs N10 Million Damages on Lecturer
By Akanimo Kufre, Uyo
For the National Industrial Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, last Thursday, was a historic day. It was on that day it ordered the University of Uyo to reinstate a lecturer, Innih Ebong, an associate professor of dramatic literature and criticism who was said to have been unjustly sacked from the university in 2002. Ebong, a fiery critic, who was an associate professor at the time his appointment was believed to have been illegally terminated by the then university of Uyo administration led by the duo of Professor Akpan Ekpo (Vice Chancellor) and Peter Effiong (Registrar), respectively, has been in court back and forth for the past 18 years.
The New Diplomat gathered that Ebong, before his unilateral sack was having a running battle with the duo of Professor Ekpo and Mr Effiong who allegedly regarded his critical approach to issues of public administration as completely unacceptable. However, many saw the radical Ebong as a simple, and easy going professor who always spoke out regularly against alleged maladministration and poor handling of matters of public administration. “The lecturer(Ebong) once rejected the university almanac and sent it back to the University authorities with a note that the faces on it were not deserving of his sitting-room since, as he claimed, they were the very persons who were victimizing him”, an insider at the university said.
That approach was to earn him a sack. But Ebong was unrelenting. For about 18 years running, the university don reportedly went through several courtrooms in Nigeria, engaged numerous lawyers and appeared before different judges, seeking justice against both Ekpo and Effiong, and the University of Uyo. Finally, last Thursday, he smiled as justice triumphantly crawled his way.
“The stoppage of the Claimant’s salary, the indefinite suspension of him from duties, and the purported termination of his appointment by the Defendants without due process were malicious, ultra vires, and unlawful, and therefore null, void and of no effect whatsoever,” Justice M. A. Namtari in his marathon judgment declared last Thursday, his voice resonating loudly in the courtroom. It was the case instituted by Prof Ebong in 2017 at the industrial court, Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State Capital
Fuming with anger and disbelief that a university administrator could unleash such injustice against his fellow academic, Justice Namtari ordered the University of Uyo to immediately withdraw the termination letter, reinstate Professor Ebong, and effect payment forthwith of all his salaries, allowances, and entitlements. These payments, the Judge ruled must date back to August 1, 2001, when Ebong’s salary was unilaterally stopped, and from March 28, 2002, when his appointment was illegally terminated by Ekpo and Effiong in their respective capacities as Vice-Chancellor and Registrar.
The court also ordered the university to pay the affected professor (Ebong) the equivalent of his full annual salaries and allowances for the 2001/2002, 2007/2008, and 2014/2015 academic years when he should have gone on sabbatical leave in accordance with the terms and conditions of his employment if his appointment had not been unlawfully, illegally and maliciously suspended ,and subsequently terminated.
The university, in addition, is to pay the aggrieved professor N10 million as damages, the court ordered. All the orders, the court maintained, must be complied with within 30 days.However, it is unclear for now what steps the current authorities of the university would take. The institution’s spokesperson, Blossom Okorie when contacted to respond on this latest development, promised to get back.
The University of Uyo has been in the news over allegations of illegal and inappropriate termination of vocal lecturers appointments in recent times. Recall that Ebong’s legal triumph is coming two years after another lecturer, Dr Edet Akpan, won a similar battle and was reinstated at the university of Uyo 14 years after he was similarly sacked by the duo of Prof Ekpo and Mr Effiong in alleged curious circumstances.
Dr Akpan who was the chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the University before his appointment was terminated for reportedly criticizing the then Vice Chancellor’s(Ekpo) leadership style had also sought redress in court. Dr Akpan, an associate professor of mathematics, was fired in 2004. This triggered much crisis which incidentally coincided with a time the National Universities Commission (NUC) tragically withdrew accreditation for several courses at the University of Uyo, including courses in the faculty of social sciences where the then vice-chancellor, Ekpo used to be as a lecturer before he was named vice-chancellor. This development was said to have earned Prof Akpan a serious censure and reprimand from the federal court, Uyo which didn’t take kindly to the former’s action. The court in its judgment in the suit questioning the legality of Akpan’s sack came very hard on the erstwhile Ekpo- led administration. The Judge ruled thus:
“Let me further observe here and hold that what the defendants termed insubordination and misconduct are constructive criticism of an inept administration that finished last in the accreditation exercise in all the universities in Nigeria,” Justice E.S Chukwu of the federal high court, Uyo, said in his judgment in 2013.
While ordering the university to reinstate Professor Akpan, Justice Chukwu further stated that the university had become “a place where the truth will always be punished senselessly. ” The judge continued: “If there is any person that his appointment should be terminated, it is the Vice-Chancellor; and his kangaroo panel (that) should be shown their way out. If they had honour, they ought to have resigned and not witch-hunt innocent citizens like the plaintiff whose association (ASUU) cried foul or complained of gross incompetence in the university administration.”
The court also ordered the university to effect the payment of Dr Akpan’s full emoluments dating back to when he was fired from his job and an additional N500, 000 to cover the cost of legal battles over the years.
However, Professor Ekpo is no longer at the University of Uyo as he has since left for Lagos. At the end of his tenure as vice-chancellor, Ekpo moved on to head the West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, Lagos as its director-general. The New Diplomat’s correspondent in Uyo made spirited efforts to get his reaction to the landmark judgment but were unsuccessful.
But for Ebong, it has been a long walk to justice. The case which was initially assigned to Justice Gladys Olotu moved on to Justice Isaac Ejiofor, and then Justice Ernest Chukwu, and later Justice Muhammed Abubakar. It ultimately climaxed with in Justice M. A. Namtari’s landmark judgment. This has attracted mixed reactions. According to Dr Peter Okonkon, a fellow academic like Ebong, the judgment shows clearly that no matter how long the wicked men of these world try to hide their misdeeds, truth and justice would always triumph at the end. But someone in the administrative wing of the university who didn’t want his name in print tried to rationalize Ekpo’s action, saying that as a Vice-Chancellor, ” Ekpo may have acted under intense pressure because its’ not easy to run a federal university in Nigeria where issues of academic autonomy are not really in place.”
“Justice has been done at long last, the lesson to be learnt from here is that wickedness does not pay. The wicked only builds up a fortune for his victim,” Ebong said while reacting to the victory at the Court.
