A Magistrate Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, on Tuesday, sentenced a former lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, Peter Ekemezie, to prison.
Ekemezie was charged with three-count bordering on forgery and defamation.
During the court sitting today, His Worship, E.C. Chukwu, said he took into consideration the fact that the defendant had spent one month in a psychiatric home and four months in a correctional centre and handed the suspect six months imprisonment for publishing defamatory statements against one Prof. Alex Asigbo.
He, however, gave the suspect an option of an N300,000 fine.
During the trial, Asigbo told the court that Ekemezie forged his signature when he refused to give him (Ekemezie) a witness statement but instead advised him to procure a subpoena.
Asigbo said this led to Ekemezie writing and publishing a series of defamatory statements against him on Facebook and other social media platforms.
Although, there were conflicting reports regarding the true identity of Ekemezie, whether he was still a lecturer at Unizik or not.
According to PUNCH, the Media Adviser to the vice-chancellor of the institution, Emmanuel Ojukwu, confirmed that Ekemezie left the services of the institution several years ago.
“He left the services of UNIZIK several years ago due to inadequacies in degrees, there were several loopholes in his credentials, and his matter was treated before the Council, and he was sent away. Before then, he was at the Department of Chemistry,” Ojukwu reportedly said.
