Ikpeazu Not Involved in Lawmaker’s Rustication Travail at ABSU, Says Gov Spokesman

Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia

Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has stated that he was never involved in the decision of the management of Abia State University, Uturu (ABSU) to rusticate a member of the state House of Assembly, Hon Ginger Onwusibe.

The lawmaker, who represents Isiala Ngwa North state constituency, was last month suspended from completing his law programme over alleged involvement in examination malpractices, which he denied.

Onwusibe, who already has bachelor and master degrees from ABSU, alleged that the suspension of his law programme was politically motivated.

The hitherto People Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker pointedly accused Governor Ikpeazu of hitting back at him apparently for defecting to the Labour Party (LP) after he was denied ticket for Isiala North/Isiala Ngwa South federal constituency.

But the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Onyebuchi Ememanka, in a statement made available to journalists, absolved Ikpeazu of involvement in Onwusibe’s travails, adding that the lawmaker should bear his cross and stop pointing fingers at the wrong direction.

According to him, “To be clear, Governor Ikpeazu has no hand whatsoever in whatever travails Onwusibe is facing in the university.

“As a university lecturer for many years, a former Head of Department and a statutory member of the Senate of a university, Governor Ikpeazu detests academic fraud, and is firmly of the view that any student indicted for academic fraud should face the consequences of his action.”

The governor’s spokesman noted that Onwusibe had “by his own admission, appeared before the University Examinations Malpractice Panel and responded to the allegations made against him.”

He said the lawmaker should have sought available options for redress if he was not satisfied with the procedure or outcome of the investigation “instead of recklessly dragging the name and office of the governor of Abia State into the internal affairs of a university.

“The governor is of the view that people should be sincere enough to pursue degrees and diplomas that they have the capacity and time for, and therefore, advises Onwusibe to look elsewhere for the source of his problems.

He added: “It is, therefore, disingenuous and an outright mischievous for Onwusibe to drag the name of the governor into what is clearly a case where the university exercised its rights to discipline its student simply because it is convenient for him to do so.

“The height of it was his claim that the Vice Chancellor of the University informed him that the governor has instructed him to withdraw the first and Masters gegrees awarded previously to Onwusibe.

“Such claim is rather ridiculous, desperate, mischievous, misleading and a clear display of a surprising lack of understanding of the workings of a university system. Beyond the above, the claim amounts to actionable injurious falsehood with multi-faceted civil and criminal dimensions.”