By Francesca Hangeior
Amid circumstances surrounding the death of Miss Favour Ugwuka, a final student of the Department of English, Ebonyi State University, who reportedly committed suicide on Wednesday night, the accused lecturer, Prof. Amechi Enyi has denied having a hand in her death.
Enyi, who claimed he was threatened by the deceased mother severally before the incident, said the Question Paper to the last examination of the course (English Statistics), revealed the late student merely copied down three questions.
He stated this while questions from journalists, on Friday, in Abakaliki, saying it was incorrect to adduce that her death was related to academic activities.
Recall a woman who identified herself as the mother of the deceased student was seen in a trend blaming the lecturer for her daughter’s death.
Giving his side of the story, the lecturer said, “I’m Prof A U. Enyi of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki. It is unfortunate, it is quite unfortunate that the girl ended the way she did. I was shocked when I heard the news.
“It is not true that her death is related to an academic issue, I don’t see how somebody who was not victimized, someone who failed an exam would decide to take her own life. So, the first question one should ask in this circumstance should be, was she victimized?
“And of course, you know that she may not have been the only person who wrote the exam and some [other] people may have failed also, so it is not true and, really that was my first reaction. How could she have decided to take her own life that is if she took her life?
He added, “Yes, I got to know about this student in February 2024 after we had uploaded our second-semester results. The results were already approved by the school because before we uploaded results so that students could have access to the results, the school management would have approved the results.
“So the mother called me one night, she said that I was witch-hunting her daughter, that how could her daughter have passed all other courses only to fail my course?
“And when I tried to explain to her the procedure of ascertaining such an accusation, she refused to listen then I had no choice but to disconnect the call.
“And I didn’t dwell further on it because the university has a process for handling such matters. According to the university rules, the examination does not belong to the lecturer, we had submitted the results, the student scripts, the questions, and the marking scheme, so all these are the property of the university and they are all verifiable.
“So, if anyone feels aggrieved, the process of recalling the papers is there. And what such an aggrieved person needs to do is not threaten my life, telling me that she is from Nsukka and that I will be dealt with.”