A 500-level student of the Akwa Ibom State University, Ekpo Iniobong, has decided to sue the institution over his suspension and subsequent expulsion.
PUNCH Metro gathered the final year student of the Department of Agricultural Engineering was first suspended by the management in September 2020 and then expelled via a letter dated April 9, 2021, for allegedly criticising the state governor, Emmanuel Udom, in a Facebook post.
Iniobong, through his lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, sent a pre-action notice to the Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof Nse Essien, dated June 18, 2021, seeking his immediate and unconditional reinstatement, among other demands.
The notice read in part, “At no time did the Akwa Ibom State University invite or summon our client to appear before the university’s Students’ Disciplinary Committee prior to his indefinite suspension. Our client was not shown, confronted or availed with the purported abusive post.
“It is apparent that the university acted in contravention of Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.
“Consequently, we hereby demand the following: immediate and unconditional reinstatement of our client; restoration of all studentship rights accruable to all students of the university; and the payment of the sum of N20m to our client, representing damages for the gross breach of our client’s fundamental human rights and the resultant depression he has suffered.”
When PUNCH Metro contacted Iniobong, he said the school had yet to prove any case of defamation against him, adding that it did not find him guilty of any offence before he was expelled.
He stated, “My ordeal started in September 2020 two days after the university announced resumption after the COVID-19 lockdown; my sister called me from Lagos that I had been suspended indefinitely. The reason for the suspension was that I refused to honour an invitation from the Students’ Disciplinary Committee.
“I went to the school to meet the secretary to the CSO and other persons. They told me that they hadn’t seen any letter of indefinite suspension. I returned to my department to get the original copy of the letter. Since they said I refused to honour an invitation, I asked my department to show me the invitation letter. The department and the HoD responded that they didn’t receive any invitation.
“I wrote to the Students’ Disciplinary Committee that I didn’t receive any invitation. I continued with my exams. By November, the committee had yet to invite me for any hearing. I went to the school on November 16 only to see a second invitation letter by the committee. When I asked the committee for a copy of the first letter, I was told to get out. They gave me a second invitation letter without the first.
“In January, they pasted my picture on the school gate without any indication that they had found me guilty. I got a third invitation. When I rushed to the meeting, they told me that I was not supposed to be invited that it was a wrong invitation. I continued to attend classes, because they did not give me a proper letter of suspension. I have taken my first semester 500-level exams already. My last meeting with them was on March 3. They didn’t prove in any way that there was any defamation of character. I got an expulsion letter on June 15, 2021.”
When the Public Relations Officer of the institution, Akaninyene Ibanga, was contacted, he said he would not speak on the matter.
“I am not ready to speak on that subject matter,” he simply stated.
Thank you for reaching out to us. We are happy to receive your opinion and request. If you need advert or sponsored post, We’re excited you’re considering advertising or sponsoring a post on our blog. Your support is what keeps us going. With the current trend, it’s very obvious content marketing is the way to go. Banner advertising and trying to get customers through Google Adwords may get you customers but it has been proven beyond doubt that Content Marketing has more lasting benefits.
We offer majorly two types of advertising:
1. Sponsored Posts: If you are really interested in publishing a sponsored post or a press release, video content, advertorial or any other kind of sponsored post, then you are at the right place.
WHAT KIND OF SPONSORED POSTS DO WE ACCEPT?
Generally, a sponsored post can be any of the following:
Press release
Advertorial
Video content
Article
Interview
This kind of post is usually written to promote you or your business. However, we do prefer posts that naturally flow with the site’s general content. This means we can also promote artists, songs, cosmetic products and things that you love of all products or services.
DURATION & BONUSES
Every sponsored article will remain live on the site as long as this website exists. The duration is indefinite! Again, we will share your post on our social media channels and our email subscribers too will get to read your article. You’re exposing your article to our: Twitter followers, Facebook fans and other social networks.
We will also try as much as possible to optimize your post for search engines as well.
Submission of Materials : Sponsored post should be well written in English language and all materials must be delivered via electronic medium. All sponsored posts must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail on Microsoft Word unless otherwise noted.
PRICING
The price largely depends on if you’re writing the content or we’re to do that. But if your are writing the content, it is $60 per article.
2. Banner Advertising: We also offer banner advertising in various sizes and of course, our prices are flexible. you may choose to for the weekly rate or simply buy your desired number of impressions.
Technical Details And Pricing
Banner Size 300 X 250 pixels : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Banner Size 728 X 90 pixels: Appears on the top right Corner of the homepage and all pages on the site.
Large rectangle Banner Size (336x280) : Appears on the home page and below all pages on the site.
Small square (200x200) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Half page (300x600) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Portrait (300x1050) : Appears on the right side of the home page and all pages on the site.
Billboard (970x250) : Appears on the home page.
Submission of Materials : Banner ads can be in jpeg, jpg and gif format. All materials must be deliverd via electronic medium. All ads must be delivered via electronic version, either on disk or e-mail in the ordered pixel dimensions unless otherwise noted.
For advertising offers, send an email with your name,company, website, country and advert or sponsored post you want to appear on our website to omodjk(at)gmail(dot)com
Normally, we should respond within 48 hours.