The Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Owerri, Imo State, has vowed to punish a graduate who claimed in a viral video that she graduated from the school with the help of God and her private part.
Although the unnamed lady pleaded on Monday, January 30, while speaking during a telephone interview on a radio station based in the state capital that she didn’t mean ‘pussy’ but ‘popsy’, her school told The ICIR after that it would not spare her the punishment it planned to unleash on her.
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The school has set up a panel to probe her, but she is yet to honour the invitation.
After defending her HND 2 project this month, the lady went to do a series of videos, some of them from a night party she attended, the polytechnic told this newspaper.
The school’s Deputy Rector Academic, Chris Onyemenonuwo, who spoke with The ICIR, condemned her conduct and said she was not a good ambassador of the institution that prides itself as an institution with high academic and moral standards.
He said the lady’s plea for making a mistake in the video was unacceptable. According to Onyemenonuwo, the lady is deceitful, and her pleas are fake. He said the school had three versions of her video, which proved that her confession to using her private part in school was genuine. The official said the graduate did not know that the school had other versions of her videos.
In the video available in the public space, the lady said, “Today is the final day, meh! Nekede (the Polytechnic) bye, bye. This Nekede’s stress ends today. Nekede’s stress ends today.
“I’m now a graduate. Finally, I’m now a graduate of Federal Polytechnic, Nekede Owerri. It can only be God (ooo) It can only be God and my pussy (ooo).”
Many Nigerians who saw the video on Tik Tok interpreted her to mean that she graduated with God’s help and used her private part to curry favour from lecturers and other persons – a practice referred to as ‘sex for marks’, as has been reported in some higher institutions in the country.
Reacting to the backlash the video caused, the lady spoke with the radio station in the state Monday morning.
Speaking with a mix of Igbo and English languages, she said she didn’t mean ‘pussy.’
“To say the truth, nothing happened. That day, I just went to take pictures, and I was excited because it’s been five years without any issues in school. I came out, and I made that video that it could only be God. I was walking. If you watch that video very well, I was walking. I meant popsy, that is P-O-P-S-Y. That is what I meant.
“But you know Nigerians and their lifestyle, they took the thing in another way, saying I said God and my pussy. You know it is bad things that trend more than good things. What I meant at that moment was ‘God and my popsy.”
The lady, who had worked as a waitress at a club and with a popular staple food-producing firm in the state, explained that even if people assumed she referred to her genitals, only her boyfriend would have access to it.
She said she and her boyfriend started the polytechnic in year one till her last day on campus.
“He is my serious date, but we don’t live together. So, I met him from day one when I came to school until I finished. So even if that is what they have in mind, it is my boyfriend. Some of my lecturers, I don’t even know their names.
“I just know them facially. I know them, but I don’t know their names. Even if they bring anything for me to swear, I will swear with it. If they say we should go anywhere, I will go there and swear.”
According to her, she never had any relationship with any lecturer in the school nor had a problem with any of her courses.
“The panel has been calling me since yesterday… They have been calling me all these while, but I am not in Owerri. As it stands now, I travelled. Even this morning, one of them called me, but once I enter Owerri, I will go into the school to meet them myself.”
The polytechnic had condemned the behaviour in the strongest terms in a statement released before The ICIR contacted its official.
The school’s registrar, E. C. Anuna, issued the statement titled ‘Management Investigating Student Involved in a Show of Shame on Social Media’.
The institution said it had launched full investigations into the identity of the student “who gloated on TikTok about how she graduated with the help of God and her private organ. It is even most blasphemous and antithetical that the said student peddled the name of the Almighty in her deleterious act.
“Management considers the action of the student most unacceptable and preposterous. The Federal Polytechnic Nekede prides itself as an institution with high academic and moral standards. Both staff and students are quite aware of the consequences of any misconduct.”
The school said it had hotlines through which students could report any act of exploitation or corruption, and any staff or student found culpable is meted with appropriate punishment.
“The despicable post of this supposed student does not, therefore, represent the standard of our institution. The Rector of the institution, being a clergyman, has been very committed and consistent in instilling discipline in our students through seminars, solemn assemblies, sensitization outreaches and publications.”
The school promised to make its findings known after investigating the incident. But it added a caveat: “It is in our purview to ensure that only students found worthy in learning and character are certified. This is a commitment to which we shall remain consistently resolute.”
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].