Governor Udom Emmanuel has set up a five-man investigative panel headed by the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet, to review the case of one Iniobong Ekpo, who was expelled by the Akwa Ibom State University, Ikot Akpaden.

Ekpo, a 500-level student in the Department of Agricultural Engineering of the institution, was suspended in September 2020 and later expelled by the management for allegedly criticising the governor.

The expelled student had through his lawyer, Inebehe Effiong, sent a pre-action notice to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Nse Essien, seeking his reinstatement, among others.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ekerette Udoh, on Wednesday exonerated Emmanuel, who is the visitor to institution, from the action taken by the university’s management.

The statement described the governor as a “an apostle of freedom of expression,” adding that the action taken by the management of the institution was purely administrative.

The statement read in part, “We have read various reports, mainly in the social media space, concerning the administrative action said to have been taken by the management of the Akwa Ibom State University against one of its students, Iniobong Ekpo, leading to his expulsion from the university.

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“We have equally followed the media feeding frenzy by the usual motley crowd of political jobbers and inveterate rabble rousers, who have maliciously tried to link the action taken by the university authority to the Visitor to the university, Governor Udom Emmanuel.

“We wish to state emphatically here that Governor Emmanuel, a known apostle of freedom of expression, was and is still not aware of this purely administrative action reportedly undertaken by the university.

“He has accordingly directed the constitution of a panel comprising five members to review the case and submit its report immediately. The panel is to be headed by the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Idongesit Etiebet.”