By Samson Yaki
The Vice Chancellor of Federal University Lokoja, Professor Angela Miri Freeman, who was recently reported to have been dragged to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegation of illegal and fraudulent purchase of the house she is presently occupying in Lokoja at the whopping sum of N200m; has denied the allegation, saying the house was bought for only N95, not N200m.
Investigations by Education Monitor revealed that the Vice Chancellor got the nod of the Chairman of the institution’s Governing Council to buy the house from its owner at an over inflated rate of N200m.
The House, according to our investigations, which ordinarily can never be bought for more than N50m, has been outrageously inflated for fraudulent reasons, a development that prompted stakeholders of the institution to file a petition to the EFCC to investigate the allegation.
Before filing this report, a call was put through to the Secretary of the Vice Chancellor, Mr Godsent, to speak to the Vice Chancellor to hear her own side of the story, but the secretary said he was going to get back to the caller (reporter), but he never did.
After waiting for several hours without any feedback from the secretary, a text reading, “Mr Secretary, good morning. Pls, we (Education Monitor) are working on a story alleging that your Vice Chancellor illegally purchased a house at an over inflated rate of N200m in Lokoja. We shall be pleased if you can connect us to her or send her number to us to hear from her the truth or otherwise of the allegations. Thank you. Editor-in-Chief, Education Monitor.”, was later sent to him as a reminder, and which was later followed by a call to which he responded by saying, “I told you she is not on seat, and I cannot give out her number for whatever reason”. He however promised to give her the number of this reporter whenever she was around so she could call him to narrate her own side of the story.
However, the Vice Chancellor who, from her actions never wanted to respond to the allegations from the beginning, but in what appeared as a belated afterthought, as her response (text) came in when we were already at pre-press. The text read, “Good afternoon, Editor-in-Chief, Education Monitor. I hope my message meets you well, I received your inquiry of allegation from my Secretary this morning and I can say categorically, that the information you have is incorrect. The Vice-Chancellor has not bought any house for herself illegally. As a University, the second University Governing Council had approved and purchased an OFFICIAL RESIDENCE for the Vice-Chancellor in Lokoja, at the cost of ?95 Million and not ?200 million as alleged. Previously, the University never had an official residence for the Vice-Chancellor. Kind Regards. Prof. Angela Freeman Miri, Vice Chancellor, FUL.”