By Esindu Jacobs
Students of the popular Nnamdi Azikiwe University Unizik, have staged a protest in Awka, Anambra state over alleged sexual harassment in the institution.
They are calling on the Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof Charles Esimone, to release the panel report of Rev. Fr. Prof Obi Oguejiofor that indicted one of the culprits, Afam Ezeaku.
As a result, the students have petitioned President Bola Tinubu,to intervene to protect the students in the hands of the wolves in Unizik.
Though, the Vice Chancellor, Prof Charles Esimone, recently admitted having such issue in the institution, but added that his Management had stepped up in fighting the menace.
He said one of the Lecturers in one of the Departments in the school was sacked recently in the Law Faculty as a result.
But the students were saying that Ezeaku, was indicted with incriminating evidence by the Rev. Fr. Prof Oguejior’s panel
Before Prof Esimone set up the panel when he took over as the Vice Chancellor, other panels had been set up that tried and equally indicted him, yet, nothing was done.
Why is he not being punishment or sacked, why is the VC sitting and hiding Oguejiofor’s report? adding that even the married women were not free from his harassment.
The students had threatened to set ablaze the institution if the Vice Chancellor and the Management fail to sack the lecturer within two weeks
Some of the lecturers who spoke with The Razor, raised the alarm that if nothing was done to the randy colleague of theirs, that the students would continue to be molested.
According to some of them,” this issue against Ezeaku has become every day affair in Unizik and the VC has refused to act on it.
“The ugly thing about it is that when the issue comes up, he will go and start rolling on the ground for VC and he will pardon him. He will now start boasting that nothing will happen. It’s so unfortunate.
“The students, we believe, got the morale from the University of Calabar issue where the HoD was suspended and they are now querying why the same treatment can not be given to Ezeaku in Unizik”
Meanwhile, The Razor gathered Thursday that another Head of Department HoD, Somto Imeobi of Theatre and Film Studies had been removed because of the same issue of sexual harassment
Imeobi, it was learnt, was removed from office last week following complaints from students and other lecturers through series of petitions to the school Management.
If Imeobi could be removed as HoD, while is it difficult to suspend or sack Ezeaku, who, according to them, had been indicted by different reports? the students and lecturers asked
Meanwhile, the school authorities had summoned a meeting of all the English Department Principal officers Thursday to deliberate on the sexual harassment issue.
In a Memo to that effect, sighted by The Razor, and signed by the Deputy Registrar,Ogonna Nwokeke, all the Principal officers of the Department must attend
The Razor further gathered that the said lecturer, Afam Ezeaku, had not been able to conclude his PhD programme for the past 10 years because of the same issue.
