Hoodlums pull down Maritime Academy gate over corpse procession

HOODLUMS, apparently on the payroll of some elements in Udung Okung village in Eyoabasi, a host community bordering the Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), Oron, Akwa Ibom State, pulled down one of the gates of the academy in an effort to carry a corpse through the academy’s premises for burial procession in another community across the academy.

Disclosing this during the recent visit of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly’s Committee on Judiciary, Justice, Human Rights and Public Petitions, the Rector of the Academy, Commodore Emmanuel Duja Effedua stated that trouble started when a few months ago, members of the Udung Okung community came to his office and requested that the said gate be opened for them to carry a corpse through for burial in a community across the Academy, but he diplomatically declined for health reasons and distraction of academic activities.

According to Commodore Effedua, “The said gate opens directly into the Academy as part of its internal service roads, and has remained closed due to security reasons in the last 10years since the tenure of late Rector Joshua Okpo; and had remained in that condition even when he resumed office about eight months ago.”

The Rector, however, explained that he provided financial goodwill and advised them to take any of the many alternative roads outside of the academy for the burial procession.

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“We later discovered that there was no corpse after all, but the claims were just a ploy by some greedy members of the community to tempt me to open that particular gate. This same set of people later went ahead and sponsored hoodlums to pull down the gate, an action that prompted me to rebuild a fence over that broken portion.

“These few elements were determined to erroneously accuse me of all manner of things possible, cause confusion, distract the Academy and raise an unnecessary alarm to give the false impression that all is not well in the Academy.

“But let me make this point clear, I am not ready to be involved in local politics of this place. My mission in the Academy is to help in repositioning it for global competitiveness. The people causing this crisis are not happy about the current changes in the Academy, so they have chosen to direct their missiles at me,” the MAN Rector added.

Commodore Effedua went on to categorically state that the kingpin of the whole crisis was a former security personnel to the Academy, who together with his conspirators, had pressured him to pay monies for fictitious contracts and also award him new contracts. A request which the Rector said he had turned down on the grounds that previous contracts awarded the former academy staff was all frivolous.

In its own presentation, the House Committee said its visit was necessitated by a report brought to the floor of the Assembly by Hon. Effiong Okon Bassey, Member representing Oron/Udung Uko State Constituency, alleging that the Rector of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Commodore Duja Emmanuel Effedua, had closed up the only road that linked one of the Academy’s host communities to other communities.

The 4-man delegation of the House Committee to the institution was led by its Vice Chairman, Hon. Otobong Akpan, Member representing Ukanafun State Constituency, in a representative capacity to the Chairman of the Committee, Barr. Aniefiok Dennis, Member representing Etinan House Constituency, who was “unavoidably absent”.