UNN Administrators Accused Of Shielding Professor Who Sent Students To Assault Colleague

veral lecturers at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) have told SaharaReporters that administrators at the university seem bent on protecting Jonah Onuoha, a suspended Head of Department (HOD) of political science who instigated three men, two of them confirmed postgraduate students, to attack Ben Nwosu, a lecturer in the department. Jonah Onuoha

Mr. Onuoha, who holds a PhD from UNN and has taught at the same university for many years, was placed on suspension after SaharaReporters detailed the brutal assault on Mr. Nwosu, a lecturer at UNN who earned a PhD in New Zealand. The assault happened on October 13, 2015, as Mr. Nwosu left the suspended HOD’s office after briefly inquiring about the status of his application for promotion. 

The three assailants, identified as Emeka Nwanze, a PhD student being supervised by Mr. Onuoha, Boniface Nwankwo, and a third yet-to-be identified man, accosted Mr. Nwosu, accused him of using his mobile phone to record his conversation with the HOD, and began slapping and punching him to force him to surrender his phone. Our sources at the university said the beating ceased only after Mr. Nwosu handed his phone to the attackers who then gave the phone to Mr. Onuoha. Our sources said they learned that Mr. Onuoha stood calmly watching as the students he instigated attacked the lecturer.

In addition to urging three men to assault a lecturer, Mr. Onuoha and several of his cohorts in the department have been accused by some students of extorting cash from them in exchange for grades.