BUK VC Threatens To Set Ablaze A PhD Holder Book Seller

…Victims deny allegations levelled against them by BUK management

By Simeon OSAJIE

Two Nigerian writers and book vendors, Dr. David Iluebe and Mr. Chike Emmanuel Eke, have denied the allegations levelled against them by the management of Bayero University, Kano (BUK), for parading themselves as lecturers and selling books to unsuspecting fresh students, describing the allegations as false, trumped-up, mischievous, misleading and tailored with muscles of falsehood and deceptive.

BUK had, in a publication in its bulletin of Friday, 26th July 2024, ISSN 0189-9260, Vol. XLIII No 50, accused Dr. Iluebe and Mr. Eke of criminal trespass, impersonation, cheating and piracy.

In the publication, titled: “Fake Lecturers Arrested in BUK for Trespass and Cheating”, which was subsequently republished by several other news sites, BUK also accused Dr. Iluebe and Mr. Eke of lying to the university’s students that they were their lecturers and intimidating the students to buy their books as a precondition for passing exams.

But responding to the allegations through their lawyer, ID. Omorodion & Co., Dr. Iluebe and Mr. Eke denied the allegations, explaining that their response was propelled by the desire to put the records straight because of the damage the allegations have done to their hard-earned integrity and reputation.

In a rejoinder signed by ID. Omorodion, the law firm of ID. Omorodion & Co. narrated that on the 24th of July 2024, their clients went into the premises of Bayero University, Kano with the intention to market some of their published books to students who might be interested in them for intellectual development.

At the Faculty of Engineering in BUK, Mr. Eke who got there first, with the permission of the class representative, introduced his books to the students and some of them bought, after which Dr. Iluebe also introduced and sold some copies of his own books as well.

The law firm said sequel to the above, “surprisingly, the school security operatives of Bayero University, Kano swooped on them [Dr. Iluebe and Mr. Eke], arrested, handcuffed them together, and embarrassingly paraded them round the campus as ‘criminals’”.

“Thereafter, at about 8pm on the said day, our clients were then brought before the Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof Sagir Adamu Abbas, who, at that moment was never circumspect in view of the highly exalted office he occupies and never also did well by his action. Upon quizzing our clients and also knowing they are ‘Christians’ from Southern part of Nigeria, the VC told them that if it was possible for anybody to walk into a university in the Southern part of Nigeria without paying dearly for it, wherein he then blamed and queried the school security operatives for not breaking their legs before presenting them to him, and furthermore, he then called the Dean of Students, who was there present, to get petrol and mobilise students to set them ablaze, but with divine intervention, we surmise, he had a change of mind, and then halted his threat of homicide, but thereafter instructed his media team to photograph our clients, commanding them to hold their books on display while handcuffed.”

The law firm noted that immediately after their clients were photographed, their picture was hastily uploaded on the internet via the referenced Special Bulletin with the headline, “Fake Lecturers Arrested in BUK for Trespass and Cheating”.

According to ID. Omorodion & Co., “Sequel to the said publication, the media became awash with the news of our clients being caught in BUK as fake lecturers as the various re-garnished story was highly circulated online by various news outlets, including but not limited to Punch, Tribune, News Central Africa, Daily Post, Oriental Times (all online) published on 26th to 27th of July 2024.”

It said the VC personally accused Dr Iluebe and Mr Eke of criminal trespass, impersonation, cheating and piracy, with the claim that they entered the classroom informing the students that they were lecturers and intimidated them to buy the books as a precondition for passing exams, adding that nothing of such occurred.

The law firm further said that the security operatives of BUK, “after serious agonizing humiliation, harassment, embarrassment and disgrace of our clients”, also recovered the money they realised from the sale of their books while the said books remained with the students. The security operatives “detained them at the school for two (2) days without food nor bathing, handed them over to the Police Area Command in Kano, and two days later, the said police transferred the matter to the Police State Headquarters, after our clients spent extra two (2) days in detention with the police”.

It described the allegation against Dr. Iluebe and Mr. Eke by BUK and the Vice Chancellor as “seriously fake, malicious, defamatory and derogatory and a calculated attempt to destroy the fundamental rights and hard-earned integrity of our clients”. It further said the accusation was “trumped-up, malicious, misinforming and ill-fated and of serious disservice to our clients, who are responsible citizens of Nigeria”, explaining that the two gentlemen are publishers and marketers of books who have been to several universities in Nigeria to sell their books and that on entering any school, they usually took permission from lecturers or class representatives during lecture-free times to introduce their books to students and those interested purchased freely without any form of intimidation.

On the BUK case, the law firm said its clients never impersonated any lecturer and never introduced themselves as lecturers, adding that it was not even possible “at the instance as the students already knew their lecturers and course” and so “strangers cannot just intimidate them into buying the books” in order to pass their exams.

It further clarified that “our clients never agreed” nor made “any confessional statement as falsely claimed in the BUK Bulletin”.

“Our clients are decent and responsible Nigerians who are registered publishers with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), Nigeria and marketers of their books and not into piracy as falsely claimed by the Baayero University, Kano, together with the Vice Chancellor, Prof Sagir Adamu Abbas,” ID. Omorodion & Co. said.

The law firm clarified that Dr David Iluebe holds  B.A. Hons in English & Literature and Master’s in English Language from the University of Benin, and a PhD in English from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, while Mr Chike Emmanuel Eke had his HND at the Federal Polytechnic, Oko, PGDE with NTI (Nigeria Teacher Institute) and Economics & Statistics (BSc-Edu) at the University of Benin, saying that “both of them have several books published to their credit but not gainfully employed at the moment due to the ‘Nigerian factor’”.

It said that its clients entering into a classroom of a public university on the permission of the class representative without informing the VC is a moral issue but not yet an offence at the moment.

“While we await further instructions from our clients on the next line of action, we specially appeal to the public, ALL AND SUNDRY, to out rightly disregard the content of the said publication of Bayero University Kano Vol. XLIII No 50 dated Friday, 26th July 2024, as fake, dubious, misinforming, being a figment of the imagination of the authors and commissioners, which is actionable in court of law,” the law firm said.