Prof. Augustine Angba, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Cross River State, has refuted media reports alleging that a female student was raped on campus by hoodlums on Nov. 21.
He said this when he spoke in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Calabar.
Angba said that the case reported as rape case was actually a phone theft case.
βNo student was raped, beaten or harmed on campus; it was a case of phone theft and food stuff. We have similar cases of phone theft on campus and we have done our best in recovering them,β he said.
He blamed the misinformation on some βbloggersβ who rushed to publish their reports without due investigation and balance from the university authorities.
He said that the police had begun investigation on the matter with a view of apprehending the suspects and recovering the stolen phone and food stuff.
According to him, the route where suspected hoodlums usually gain entrance into the hostel blocks has been noticed and efforts were on to run a barb wire to prevent further occurrences.
βWe have asked the student involved to give us the registration number of the phone.
βWe are going to pay for the tracking of the phone and also ensure it is recovered and handed over the rightful owner.
βI keep advising my students, if hoodlums come for your phone, quickly hand it over to them because we can track phones. The lives of our students are paramount to us,β he said.
He advised students on campus to be vigilant about their security and to report any suspicious movement around them to the university authorities.
