Date Published: 05/18/09

Dear Editor,

Re: NUC, Sam Egwu....Please save us from UNIBEN lecturers!

I have read your article published in your media on the 25 th of April 2009.  I would not have bothered to write but for the feeling I get that your intention is to make for a better Nigeria, rather than to destroy innocent human beings. Note that in our society, people are often presumed guilty, unless they can proof otherwise; contrary to the norms in the civilised world.  It will be appreciated if you will give the same wide publicity to this letter as you have given to the ‘petition’ by the faceless ‘Uche’. 

I am really disappointed that you did not bother to even do a preliminary investigation of the allegation made by the pseudo Uche against the said UNIBEN Lecturers. This is sad. It is said that it is better to allow ten criminals go scot free, than to punish an innocent person.  In your list are one or two people that are well known in UNIBEN as crusaders against what your petition claims to be fighting.  Could it be that the Said Uche has an axe to grind with any of this individuals and so decided to malign their names, under cover of a faceless petition?  I say this again because a Lecturer who is known as a ‘no nonsense’ against exam Malpractice, who is known as someone who insist on punishment for exam malpractice and is thus hated by many wayword students suddenly appears in your media, painted with colours that are alien to what people see and can verify. Such a lecturer can at best be described as strict, sadist, maybe even 'wicked' for his uncompromising stance.  But to stoop to the level of classifying such a lecturer in the manner the faceless petition does(marks for sex and money), is most unfair. Particularly as in the present circumstances there is little or nothing he can do, except wait and hope that the truth will prevail. I want to plead that your news media should for the sake of posterity, do a small investigation, which should not cost you much to ascertain who is guilty and assist to repair the reputation of those innocent lecturers, whose reputation have been damaged through your media, by the faceless petition.  I believe that this is not too much to ask.  I have written because, I, as a recently graduated student from UNIBEN, do not believe that the lecturer I have refrained from mentioning in this article could have done an about turn so soon. Lets build, not destroy. The truth and only the truth can set our society free.  Thank you.

Osakpolo, J