The lecturers during the protest
Lecturers
of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, under the Academic
Staff Union of Universities, on Friday protested over the disappearance
of one of their colleagues, Dr. Paul Erie.
Erie, who is an Associate Professor of
the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, was reportedly
kidnapped at his residence in Igbanke, Orhiowmon Local Government Area
of the state, on June 16, 2015.
It was gathered that the family of the university don was contacted two days later by the kidnappers.
The aggrieved lecturers took their
protest to the Ekpoma Police Division, the palace of monarch in the area
and a popular market square in the town to register their grievances,
decrying the spate of kidnapping of its members or their relatives.
The chapter Chairman of the union,
Professor Fred Esumeh, explained that the suspected kidnappers had
slashed the N30 million ransom demanded from the family of the lecturer
to N7 million.
“They (kidnappers) started with N30
million to N12 million and down to N7 million and suddenly stopped
contact. The family was last contacted on June 19,” Esumeh said.
He added that the family was yet to get an update on rescue efforts by the police.
But efforts by our correspondent to
reach the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Stephen Onwochei, to
either confirm or refute the claim were unsuccessful at the time of
filing the report.
However, the chapter chairman of ASUU,
who also recalled that more than eight lecturers of the institution had
been kidnapped in the past, listed some of them as Professor O. P.
Nmorsi (Department of Religious and Cultural Management), Professor E.
E. Okoeguele (Botany Department), Dr. Justina Ehikhiamen (Department of
Philosophy) and Mrs. L. A. Osho (Vocation and Technical Education).
Others are the wives of Prof. J. E.
Osemekhian, Professor Raymond Aluede, Professor I. A. Onimhawo and Dr.
Ken Imarenezer of the Departments of Physics, Educational Foundations,
Biochemistry and Microbiology respectively.
He, therefore, appealed to security
agencies and the Edo State Government, to beef up security around the
university in order the check the menace, which according to him, could
affect academic activities.
Esumeh said, “Teaching and learning
cannot take place in an environment where fear reigns supreme and
insecurity is the order of the day.
“We believe that this ugly trend has
become pervasive and almost a normal thing because little or nothing has
been done to apprehend the hoodlums as they seem to be having a free
day in their nefarious business.”
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