Ailing lecturer awaits Court of Appeal’s date for UNIUYO’s third appeal against victory

An associate professor of theatre arts, Inih Ebong, whose appointment was unjustly terminated over 20 years ago by the University of Uyo (UNIUYO), is anxiously awaiting the Court of Appeal, Calabar, to fix a hearing date for a third appeal by the university against his victory at the National Industrial Court of Nigeria.

Mr Ebong’s counsel, Nse Williams, told PREMIUM TIMES, 29 January, that he has applied to the Court of Appeal for a date and that he had mentioned the urgency of the matter in the application, but that he was yet to get a date from the court.

Mr Ebong, 73, had been diagnosed of cardiac failure in October 2020 and was dying before a Nigerian billionaire, Femi Otedola, stepped in to take care of his medical treatment, following a PREMIUM TIMES report.

Being out of job for several years, the lecturer could hardly feed himself and his family, let alone take care of his medical treatment.

He is now waiting for the Court of Appeal, Calabar, to fix a hearing date and dispense of the case as he continues to battle ill-health.

“I have been waiting for a date (from the Court of Appeal),” the lecturer told PREMIUM TIMES, Thursday. “My health is going down on a daily basis.”

Mr Ebong appealed to the court to hasten its adjudication on the matter.

“In the legal lexicon, it is said that justice delayed is justice denied. They should do everything possible to ensure that I am not denied justice because every day the case is delayed is a denial of justice,” he said as he struggled to breathe, apparently because the breathlessness he has been experiencing due to cardiac failure.

National Industrial Court’s judgment

The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, in January 2020, voided the University of Uyo’s termination of Mr Ebong’s appointment and ordered the university to reinstate the lecturer and pay him N10 million damages, in addition to his accumulated salaries and allowances.

Since then UNIUYO has been in and out of the Court of Appeal, Calabar, trying to upturn the judgment of the court.

The Court of Appeal, on 21 July 2023, dismissed UNIUYO’s application seeking extension of time to file an appeal against the judgment of the industrial court.

The appellate court had earlier, in 2022, struck out the university’s appeal after it withdrew it, having realised that it failed to obtain the leave of the appellate court as required by law before filing it.

Last year, the university had filed yet another application at the Court of Appeal, Calabar, requesting the court to give an order for a stay of action on the judgment of the industrial court.

The matter could not be heard on a scheduled date – 28 October 2023 – because the court did not sit. Since then the court has yet to give a new date for it, apparently because of the numerous 2023 election-related cases.

Since cases from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria terminate at the Court of Appeal, Mr Ebong is just about completing the circle in his legal struggle against the university.

How Ebong was sacked

The then registrar of UNIUYO, Peter Effiong, in 2001, had falsely accused Mr Ebong of abandoning his duty while the lecturer was on an annual leave which was authorised and approved by Mr Effiong himself – the lecturer has had to tender in courts the ‘Leave Certificate’ which the then registrar issued to him.

The then Vice-Chancellor of UNIUYO, Akpan Ekpo, based on the registrar’s accusation, directed the bursar to stop Mr Ebong’s salaries.

Mr Ekpo, a professor, set up a panel to investigate Mr Ebong, but the panel found the lecturer not guilty of the allegation of abandonment of duty, and recommended that the university should reverse whatever punishment it had meted out to him. The university ignored the panel recommendation.

UNIUYO, on 18 December 2001, suspended Mr Ebong indefinitely and placed him on half pay after the lecturer sued the authorities over the matter. The university, on 27 March 2002, terminated Mr Ebong’s appointment, after 25 years of service in the Nigerian university system.

Four successive vice-chancellors have refused to reinstate Mr Ebong, despite an unbroken string of legal victories.

Mr Ebong, before his sack, had a running battle with Messrs Ekpo and Effiong who saw him as a thorn in their side for speaking up regularly against alleged maladministration and corruption in the school.

The lecturer, weighed down by hardship, illness, and emotional trauma, appeared tired to continue with the battle against the University of Uyo, and has sought for a peaceful settlement of the matter with the school. He wrote a letter twice to the university authorities who rebuffed him.

“It is advisable for parties to await the decision of the court (of appeal),” the university said, in March 2021, in a letter it wrote to Mr Ebong as a response to the lecturer’s appeal for a peaceful settlement of the protracted matter.

The two letters from UNIUYO to Mr Ebong were written by the then Registrar of the university, Aniediabasi Udofia.

READ ALSO: Inibehe Effiong handcuffed, moved to another prison – Lawyer

Udoro Udo, the spokesperson for the university, did not response to calls and a text message from PREMIUM TIMES, on Thursday.

‘University’s intention is to make sure he dies’

Des Wilson, a UNIUYO retired professor of communication arts, is among the few friends of Mr Ebong who have been standing by him.

Mr Wilson said the university authorities were just out to punish the ailing lecturer, with their numerous appeals against his court victory.

“They know that they would never win, but just to delay him with the hope that he would die in the process,” Mr Wilson said.

“I think it is by the grace of God that he (Ebong) is still breathing,” he added.

Mr Ebong’s former counsel, Nsikak Effiong, made a similar allegation against the university.

“For sure, the intention of the university is to make sure that he dies. That, I can confirm. That is why they have gone on appeal,” he said in October, 2020.