By Michael P. Okom
My attention has been drawn to an article by one Professor Abiodun Ojo of ABUAD on the subject: The New Certificate Craze: How Politicians Are Quietly Eroding Academic Standards In Nigerian Universities.
The distasteful write up is making its ignominious rounds on Social Media. The author made a couple of tendentious, spurious, frivolous and false allegations about the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin O. Kalu, with respect to his PhD, recently obtained in the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, his Alma Mater. By raising doubt about Dr. Kalu’s PhD, he invariably casts aspersions on those who superintended over his academic attainments. In addition, he has also impugned, lampooned and besmirched the integrity and reputation of the senior academia who run the Graduate Programme of the Faculty. Ipso facto, it behoves this writer, as one of those involved, to visit this space and set the records straight.
To start with, it is supremely intriguing and optimally preposterous for a professor to so flagrantly and hastily go public with such grave and weighty allegations (with serious implications), without doing as much as a scintilla of verification, which would have provided him with all the information that would have saved him the embarrassment of espousing such hideous falsehood in the public domain. By the way, if the professor was as punctilious as he would want us to believe, why did he not do what any academician would naturally do; conduct some basic research/findings?
This writer taught Dr. Kalu at the LLB, LLM and PhD levels and supervised his LL.M thesis. He (this writer), has been Head of Department twice, Dean of the Faculty, immediate past Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration, and currently, Director of Alumni Affairs (which particularly gives him sound locus standi to issue this riposte in defence of Dr.Kalu, a distinguished and stellar Alumnus. The writer is also an ordained clergyman of the Church of God in Christ, Memphis, Tennessee, actively involved in the work of the Gospel.
For the avoidance of every shred of doubt, it is sublimely expedient to let the public know that Dr. Kalu was admitted into the PhD Programme of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar in the 2022 session. He concluded his course work at the end of that session, after writing the first and second semester exams. This writer taught his class International Economic Law, and I hereby attest that he submitted his first and second semester written seminar papers and duly made his oral presentations, under my watch. During the second year of his PhD programme, he made his Mini Proposal and Main Proposal defences. During his third session, (2024/25) he made his Internal and External defences. His External Examiner was a Rev. Father professor of impeccable academic credentials and moral rectitude. Furthermore, it is pertinent for the public to know that the University of Calabar has a well established and unimpeachable international reputation.
As for the Faculty of Law UNICAL, it does not bend rules for anyone.
In view of the foregoing, this writer hereby asseverates thus:
1) Rt. Hon. Benjamin O.Kalu did this PhD in three academic sessions. He did not skip any seminars or exams and he has course mates who are alive and can be contacted.
2) His PhD thesis was supervised by a most erudite and cerebrally endowed professor of international repute, who recently served as a Justice of the Gambian Court of Appeal.
3) The Faculty of Law UNICAL Graduate Board has a well known reputation for its “NO SACRED COWS” stringent policy, which has been consistently upheld and was applied a few sessions ago when a serving Governor did his LLM in the Faculty, when this writer was Dean. In fact, some furore ensued in the University when the Governor came for lectures with his convoy and Social Media went agog.
It is pertinent to assert that during his PhD programme, Dr. Kalu was objectively assessed on his seminars and defences and was adjudged by the Faculty Board and examiners to be a sound scholar, deserving of a PhD. He is definitely not a laid-back armchair or cavalier budding academic because in addition to his seminars and LLM/PHD theses, he has 11(eleven) publications in local and international journals to his credit. All his seminars, exams and defences were done in personam and there are no lack of witnesses to this.
As the Director of Alumni Affairs of the University, yours truly hereby states that the University and the Faculty are proud of Dr. Kalu. In fact, the University is so proud of him that he was invited to deliver the Keynote lecture at the University’s 50th anniversary celebration earlier in the year.
By virtue of all that has been stated so far, it ought to be beyond conjecture that the allegations by Professor Ojo are not only false but also redolent with caprice and crass disregard for the prudence, objectivity and forensic veracity that academicians are known for. As the reader may have observed, specific details as to names and dates have been excluded for the simple reason that this is not a response to an official or judicial inquiry. The details and evidence are available should the matter come to that juncture.
In conclusion, when false statements are made while the truth is just a handbreadth away, it stands to reason that malice might be the sole motive. Disseminating information for malicious purposes does not serve any useful purpose in the society. As the Bible has pungently stated in Matthew 7:12, do unto others what you want others to do unto you. (Paraphrased).
*Professor Michael P. Okom is a former Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration), former Dean, Faculty of Law and Currently, Head of Alumni, University of Calabar. He wrote from Calabar, Cross River State in Defence of the Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, PhD, CFR.
