The Abia State Executive Council has constituted a five-man Special Investigative Committee to probe recent allegations of harassment and extortion involving students and lecturers of Abia State University, Uturu.
The state Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, disclosed this on Monday 11th May in Umuahia while briefing journalists on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
Kanu said the committee was set up to uphold ethical and academic standards in the university and ensure that all allegations are thoroughly investigated. The panel will be chaired by the Chief of Staff to the Governor, Pastor Caleb Ajagba, while the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Dodoh Okafor, will serve as Secretary. Other members of the panel are Mr Chinedu Ekeke, Professor Idowu Eluwa, and Professor Lawrence Idemudua.
Tribune reports that the committee’s terms of reference would include identifying perpetrators of the alleged acts and making appropriate recommendations to the Visitor to the university, Governor Otti. The panel will also investigate allegations of bribery and certificate forgery against a lecturer, as well as assess the implementation of the White Paper issued after the 2024 Visitation Panel to the university, to identify areas where gaps still exist.
The committee is also expected to work closely with the university’s governing council in carrying out its assignment.
The probe comes against a backdrop of mounting and overlapping allegations of misconduct at the institution. Multiple student accounts have alleged that obtaining a passing grade in certain departments requires two distinct payments a fee for course handouts and a separate “sorting” fee to guarantee examination success with students claiming that failure to comply results in automatic failure regardless of academic performance.
Fresh allegations have also surfaced against the Dean of the Faculty of Mass Communication, with reports alleging a systemic culture of financial exploitation within the faculty. The university management has dismissed the viral reports as misleading and a calculated attempt to blackmail the institution.
The harassment controversy extends beyond the lecture hall. Police officers were recently captured in a viral video molesting a student of the university after he was questioned about carrying three mobile phones. The officers dragged him and others into a nearby bush and beat them.
They have since been identified, disarmed, and detained, with the Abia State Commissioner of Police ordering an investigation at the State Criminal Investigation Department.
