By Gabriel Ewepu

A Civil Society Organization, CSO, Concerned Enugu Citizens, CEC, on Wednesday, uncovered alleged smear campaign moves against the Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, Prof Simon Ortuanya, by some aggrieved persons.

According to the Public Relations Officer, CEC, Comrade Davidson Eze, the alleged smear campaign was uncovered after Prof. Ortuanya was declared the winner of the vice chancellor election, when they went to the media to blackmail Ortuanya and his administration.

Eze said: “So, to them, Professor Ortuanya is a stranger who must be put where he belongs by frustrating his genuine efforts to bring back the school from the state of ruins they had left it.”

According to the PRO, the Vice Chancellor has strong support from the university community, who cheered and rejoiced as he visited one dilapidated structure after another and vowed to restore them all.

He therefore asserted that the development going on in the campus led his detractors to sponsor malicious smear campaigns against the VC and his administration.

“University of Nigeria, Nsukka, has been down for over forty years, during which the school decayed and decomposed to the point of near beyond recovery. Every standing structure and infrastructure, like students’ hostels, staff quarters, offices, lecture buildings, roads and the general landscape, were in a terrible state of disrepair and abandonment. The new VC came and immediately vowed to take measures to tackle these overwhelming physical and systemic rot.

“In view of this, we have no choice but to promptly alert the public, stakeholders, and the members of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka community of this evil plan about to be unleashed on them.

“We are also asking those behind this plot to stop fighting and join the Vice Chancellor in his renewal efforts, to bring back the lost glory of the school as a premier and prestigious university.

“As only one person can be the VC at a time, the time for the politics of the appointment has come and gone. Now is the time to join hands in making the university work for the benefits of all”, he added.

Vanguard News