Solomon Tamunotonye, a lecturer at Captain Elechi Amadi Polytechnic in Port Harcourt, has raised alarm regarding the seizure of his salary for an extended period of 20 months by the institution’s management.
The Polytechnic’s management, as communicated by Registrar Chris Woke in an official statement, has enforced a three-month suspension on Tamunotonye. The suspension is in response to allegations of “harassment and exploitation” involving a 200-level female student, Blessing Audu.
In response to the situation, the Polytechnic has chosen to escalate the matter by assigning it to a committee for a comprehensive investigation and the formulation of recommendations.
However, in a conversation with newsmen, Tamunotonye voiced his frustration that the management had reached out to him months later, requesting him to return to work and issue a written apology, all while keeping the committee’s findings undisclosed to him and the public.
The lecturer, who hails from the Department of Public Administration, explained. He stated that due to his refusal to write an apology letter and his steadfast belief in the inaccuracy of the allegations against him, the management discontinued his salary payments.
He stated, ‘I have been having a running battle with my polytechnic that borders on false allegation which the polytechnic put in the social and traditional media sometime on January 7, 2022.’
‘They put the false allegation with a caption of sexual harassment against a student with my name in the media. Based on that, they suspended me for three months and set up a committee to investigate the matter.’
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‘Five months after the setting of that investigative panel and the conclusion of that investigation, they refused to release the report of the committee. Rather they wrote to me to resume work and write an apology letter to the management.’
Continuing, he said, ‘I actually resumed work but refused to write an apology letter because I have not seen the need for an apology letter because I didn’t commit the offence I was accused of.’
‘I believe in the laws of the polytechnic which is that the punishment for sexual harassment of a female student by any lecturer is dismissal and not an apology letter.’
‘If I write an apology letter to the management, what is the remedy for the girl who was said to have suffered sexual harassment? So, I said they should rather release the report and punish me accordingly if I am found wanting by the committee. But they refused.’
‘However, I resumed work and because of my refusal to write the apology letter, they continued to hold my salary till now. It’s about 20 months. But the Rivers State Government has continued to pay my salary because I receive my pension alert every month.’
‘They collected my two phones and damaged my laptop in an attempt to destroy evidence I have to present in court,’ he alleged.
‘As I speak to you, the Commissioner of Police Monitoring Unit, GRA, Port Harcourt, where they went and arrested me for claims that I went to steal in the school, the police have finished their investigation and we are now talking about the matter in court. So, I wouldn’t want to talk on that because the matter is already in court.’
Regarding the accusations of theft levelled against him, he stated that the police had wrapped up their investigation. However, he added that an influential figure within the polytechnic was leveraging political connections to “frustrate the matter from being charged to court.”
Tamunotonye appealed to Nigerians, the State Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and civil society organizations for assistance, stating that he had resorted to taking up odd jobs to sustain himself.
When reached for details of the situation, Chris Woke, the Registrar at the Polytechnic, responded tersely via phone, noting that the issue was now a subject of litigation.
Woke stated, ‘Well, the matter is in court. So long as the matter is in court, I can’t say much. The young man (referring to Tamunotonye) should know what is good for him.’