A Nigerian university notorious for abusing power and silencing dissenting voices has surprisingly pledged to “stand by the truth” and “sustain freedom.”
Nyaudoh Ndaeyo, a professor and vice-chancellor of the University of Uyo (UniUyo), made the pledge on 9 September at the university’s permanent campus in Uyo during a public lecture and a book presentation to commemorate the 75th birthday of Desmond Wilson, a rights activist and renowned professor of mass communication.
For decades, UniUyo has unlawfully sacked or suspended lecturers who demanded accountability or spoke up against alleged corruption and maladministration in the 33-year-old federal institution.
The most prominent case is that of Inih Ebong, an associate professor of theatre arts who was unjustly sacked in 2002 for persistently criticising the university’s authorities. After sacking him, the university published a disclaimer on him in a national daily to scare off other potential employers.
Since then, five successive vice-chancellors, including the current one, Mr Ndaeyo, refused to reinstate and pay Mr Ebong his accumulated salaries and other entitlements despite a string of court victories, including last December’s Court of Appeal judgement, which finalised litigation over the illegal termination of his appointment.
For over two decades, Mr Ebong had been fighting not only for justice but for survival – he was broke and could not feed himself and his family and was diagnosed with cardiac failure.
Nigerians, including the billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, came to his rescue after PREMIUM TIMES broke the news about Mr Ebong’s deteriorating health.
Sadly, Mr Ebong died on 16 April 2025 at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo, six months after PREMIUM TIMES published an investigative report on how UniUyo ruined his career and life with false accusations of sexual harassment.
A federal judge once described UniUyo as “a place where the truth will always be punished senselessly.”
‘We’ll sustain freedom’
At the birthday event, Mr Ndaeyo, UniUyo vice-chancellor, praised Mr Wilson’s decades of involvement in the struggle against military rule and his campaign for human rights, describing the retired professor as a courageous activist and a great teacher.
“We should not mistake his calls for accountability as being a hardliner because accountability is the only thing that will encourage sustainable development,” said Mr Ndaeyo, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration, Aniekan Offiong.
Mr Ndaeyo said the courageous anti-military rule campaign by Mr Wilson and others brought about democracy and freedom for Nigerians. “We will try to sustain our freedom no matter what it will cost,” he said.
“Professor Desmond Wilson, we honour you as a great teacher. You are a professor of professors. You are a faculty builder, you are a role model to us.
“Professor Desmond Wilson is a man of integrity. He doesn’t mind if he is a lone voice, provided he says the truth. He doesn’t care who is in government; he stands by the truth.
“Professor Desmond Wilson, your labour shall never be in vain. As a university, we will strive to honour your ideals. We will never let you down.
“We promise to keep the flag flying – the flag of standing by the truth and making sure that the society is better.”
Vice-chancellor’s pledge contrasts with inhumane treatment of Ebong
The UniUyo vice-chancellor’s pledge for truth and freedom contrasts with his administration’s unlawful and inhumane treatment of the victimised lecturer, Mr Ebong.
Weighed down by hardship, illness, and emotional trauma, Mr Ebong, in a 16 January 2021 letter to Mr Ndaeyo, chronicled his travails and informed the vice-chancellor that he was open to a peaceful resolution of the matter.
“Today, I am virtually bedridden at home while I await the inevitable to happen! May it not be said that the University was awaiting to resolve this matter posthumously.
“I am, therefore, appealing to you to bring my uncertainty and misery to an end by complying with the judgement and order of the National Industrial Court,” Mr Ebong said in the letter to Mr Ndaeyo.
The vice-chancellor, through then-Registrar of UniUyo Aniediabasi Udofia, replied to Mr Ebong’s letter on 12 March 2021. He told the lecturer that the university was dissatisfied with the judgement of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria and had, therefore, appealed against it.
“It is advisable for parties to await the decision of the court (of appeal),” he said.
The Court of Appeal, Calabar, last December, dismissed an appeal filed by UniUyo for a stay of the execution of a 2020 judgement of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, which ordered the university to reinstate Mr Ebong and pay him all his entitlements and damages.
The same Court of Appeal had previously dismissed two other appeals filed by UniUyo.
On 17 January, Mr Ebong, through his lawyer, Nse Williams, forwarded a copy of the Court of Appeal judgement to Mr Ndaeyo and demanded that the university comply with the industrial court judgement.
Mr Ebong reminded Mr Ndaeyo of his (the vice-chancellor’s) earlier words that “parties should await the decision of the court (of appeal)” when he (Ebong) requested a peaceful settlement.
“As the man of honour that you are, we demand that you make good and give effect to your above-quoted word of honour,” Mr Ebong told the vice-chancellor in the 17 January letter.
UniUyo has yet to obey the court judgement ordering it to reinstate the lecturer and pay his accumulated salary and other entitlements, which amount to millions of naira.
Mr Wilson, the retired professor whose birthday celebration the vice-chancellor pledged truth and freedom, is among the few friends of Mr Ebong who did their best to help the victimised lecturer when he was alive.
“They (UniUyo authorities) know that they would never win, but just to delay him with the hope that he would die in the process,” Mr Wilson told PREMIUM TIMES in 2020 (Mr Ndaeyo was not the vice-chancellor then).
According to the family, the funeral service for the late Mr Ebong will take place on Friday, 10 October at 12 p.m. at the Aton Lodge, Rosicrucian Order, AMORC, KM 7, Abak Road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately speak with UniUyo for its comment for this report as the known phone number of its spokesperson was switched off at the time of filing the report.
