The Management of Imo State Polytechnic, Umuagwo, Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area of the state has flayed recent publications in some newspapers that a staff of the institution took the rector of the polytechnic to the dreaded Okija Shrine.
One of the newspapers had reported that the institution’s Rector, Rev. Fr. Wence Madu, had been dragged to the dreaded Okija Shrine in Anambra State over a complaint of injustice against the rector by one of the staff of the institution.
But, in a release signed by the Public Relations Officer, PRO of the institution, Darlington Oparaocha, the polytechnic described the reports as misguided and intended to malign the Rector and the polytechnic community.
The release noted that it was erroneous insinuation for the two publications to allude that a staff has taken the Rector, a Catholic priest to ‘Okija Shrine’, stating that this was demeaning and disrespectful to God.
The release strongly condemned the reports, adding that they were intended to damage the corporate image of the polytechnic management, Staff and students as well as the reputation/integrity of the rector.
It made it clear that there was no crisis in the school which is evident in the fact that while other sister institutions within Imo State and beyond were still in the first semester, Imo Polytechnic was already in its second semester.
The release described peddlers of the story as merchants of lies, revealing however that a purported letter from ‘Okija Shrine’ to the rector had since been handed over to the appropriate security agencies for thorough investigation to unmask the people behind it.
The release stated that it was surprising that the said letter could not be traced to any known member of the staff of the polytechnic as the purported complainant, adding that it was not in conformity with civil service norm for an aggrieved staff to go to shrine(s) instead of known procedure or court.
It insisted that the rector was bent on stamping out crime in the school such as fake certificates, falsification of documents, sorting, sale of hand outs and examination malpractices.
“The collaborators and/or initiators of these crimes are agitated but the school authority is determined to deal with culprits”, it reads in part.
The release made it clear that it was no longer business as usual, insisting that the rot in the system had to be stamped out, for the reputation and corporate image of the polytechnic to blossom.
