The governing council of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba has debunked the reports that non-release of some students’ certificates were responsible for the protest by the students.
Rather, the school said that the protests were sparked off by alleged rape of a female student of the Polytechnic by some policemen.
These positions were made known by Elder John Nwangborogu, the Chairman of the governing council of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, who addressed the press in Umuahia.
Nwangborogu, who was flanked by the Reactor of the school, Ass. Prof. Okorie Kalu Osonwa and other management staff, lamented that some sections of the media had wrongly attributed the protest to non-payment of staff salaries and delay in graduation of students in Department of Engineering.
“When we received calls from students affairs office and the students union government that our student was raped by a security man, we immediately swung into action and we assure you that we won’t jump into conclusion yet as the matter is still under investigation. But we assure that the findings would soon be made known”
According to the council Chairman, the alleged rape of the Abia Poly student was under investigation as both the State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu and his wife, Nkechi together with the Aba Area Commander of Nigerian Police were on top of the situation.
He called for calm among school community as the matter won’t be swept under the carpets, adding that the molested female student was already receiving treatment in the hospital.
The governing council Chairman who commended the student union leaders and security agents for bringing the protest under control cautioned that the protests should not be politicized by some individuals.
On the allegations that some students of engineering were issued with certificates in building, the Abia Polytechnic management team described the allegations as lies aimed at tarnishing the school’s reputation.
According to Elder Nwangborogu, the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) would arrive the Polytechnic in late October for reaccreditation of engineering courses which he said, the Aba-based Poly had already paid for.
Also speaking, the Rector of the school, Prof Okorie Kalu Osonwa said the stories of students being issued certificates from different field of study were manufactured by enemies of the school, insisting that such development never occurred. “The management is not aware that students were issued certificates for what they did not study. Such has never been reported to us”.
The school which commended the staff of the school for their understanding in salary challenges, revealed that several internal revenue- boosting businesses had been floated to boost allocations from the Abia State government .
