From Judex Okoror, Calabar
Academic Staff Union of Universities, UNICAL Branch, ASUU-UCB, has told security agency to produce one of their colleagues, Dr David Ugwu, abducted a year ago, dead or alive.
Dr Ugwu, an associate professor in the Institute of Public Policy and Administration, UniCal, was abducted from his residence at Atimbo in Calabar Municipality about 2:00am on February 14, 2020 by gunmen.
Despite all efforts and reports to security agencies, Ugwu has remained in the hands of his abductors since then, fuelling speculation that he may have died in kidnappers den.
Addressing journalists shortly after the union Special Congress International Conference Center and subsequent procession in protest against insecurity on campus on Tuesday, the Chairperson of ASUU UCB, Edor John Edor, demanded that security operatives furnish the union with them with information if whether Ugwu is still alive or alive, wondering why he is still in captivity and nothing is heard about him for over a year.
Expressing worry whether the case of Ugwu is still that of rescue, or recovery, Edor said they have notified relevant security agencies officially yet he is no nowhere to be found.
“If Ugwu is alive, we want to see him, if he is dead, we want to see his remains so we can give him a befitting burial. His family needs him, the union needs him and the entire academic community needs him.
“Indeed, our great union is having its fair share in the incremental relapse of Nigeria to the state of nature, or so it seems. If a scholar can be kidnapped and detained in captivity for over a year then ordinary Nigeria is doomed, ” he stated.
He called on government to live up to its primary responsibility of protection of life and property as enshrined in Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), waiting that the union would monitor the situation for a while and then know how far they would go.