FUOYE probes embattled senior lecturer over academic scandal, orders her to appear before panel
…the case is in court, says embattled Dr. Ngozi
…we received no court summons – FUOYE
…I was not aware of any ruling- Barr. Anagu Counsel to Dr. Ngozi
Idowu Adebomi, Ado Ekiti
A Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Federal University Oye-Ekiti Dr. Ngozi Ole who is under probe for allegedly commiting plagiarism has refused to appear before the university panel set up to investigate her culpability in the academic scandal.
Dr. Ole was accused by the University of committing the offence when she submitted academic papers and other necessary publications for assessment for promotion to the position of a Reader in the Faculty of Law.
According to the university authorities, the publications were assessed and the external assessors detected that she plagiarized and informed the school authorities which automatically halted the promotion process.
Meanehile, Special Adviser on media matters to the Vice Chancellor Dr. Wole Balogun, the school took up the matter and in order to ensure fairness and justice, the Governing Council set up a panel which invited Dr. Ngozi Ole to appear before it.
Dr. Balogun said matters took a different turn when Dr. Ngozi alleged that the Vice Chancellor Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina made advances to her which she did not reciprocate and thereby led to her victimization and decided to submit a resignation letter hurriedly.
She also made damaging posts about the Vice Chancellor and the Institution on different social media platforms.
“What we found on social media was a copy of her letter which she wrote to the Chairman of the University Governing Council, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba SAN. By this, she has externalized the issue.”
He said the panel fixed the hearing for the 26th and 27th of March 2025 and instead of appearing before the panel, Dr. Ngozi wrote and sent in her resignation letter and even paid three months salary into the University’s account when she got wind of the probe”
When Dr Ngozi Ole was contacted on phone, she declined to offer any statement claiming that the matter was already in court and that the industrial court has ordered that both parties should not speak to the press.
“I cannot make any comment about the issue for now because that would be contempt of the court, we were in court and for now we have been prohibited to speak to the press” she added.
When asked if representatives of the Federal University of Oye -Ekiti were also in court when such ruling was given, Dr. Ngozi refused to comment further but gave the contact of her lawyer Barrister Anagu to speak on the matter.
Speaking with Barrister Anagu on the phone was a different ball game as he declared he was not in court when the said ruling was given and was not aware of such ruling.
“I would not know if there was such ruling, I am aware of the case and he who alleges must prove. We are waiting for FUOYE to bring the matter to court because my client denied what the management of the Institution is accusing her of so let them bring the evidence”
Barrister Anagu maintained that he would have to ask his colleagues if there was such case in court on the 27th of March 2025.
But when confronted with the statement of his client Dr. Ngozi Ole where she claimed that both parties were in court, Barrister Anagu said:
“Well, I cannot say for sure if the representatives of FUOYE are in court or not but if Dr. Ngozi says they are, then so be it”
When contacted to speak on the alleged ruling of the Industrial court Dr. Wole Balogun refuted Dr. Ole’s claims that the university was served a court summon.
“The authorities of the University did not receive any court summons from her or her supposed lawyer, the panel was expecting her before them only for us to find publications on some social media platforms discrediting the good name of the University and that of the Vice chancellor,” he said.
Dr. Balogun claimed that Dr. Ngozi rather than present herself for proper questioning and investigation decided to chase shadows by going round to spread falsehood that she was being victimized.
“The truth is that no one victimized her in the University and the VC didn’t make any advances to her.”
“if she is not guilty why rushing to write a resignation letter when she has already submitted publications for promotion” Dr. Wole asked.
While it is common knowledge that Plagiarism is a serious crime and academic fraud which attracts stiff penalty in the academia, it still remains unclear if Dr. Ngozi is ready to go extra length to clear her name since its not clear if she actually went to court.
