The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cross River State, Prof. Augustine Angba, has refuted allegations made against the school.
He refuted media reports alleging that a female student was r*ped on campus by hoodlums on Nov. 21.
He said this in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Calabar.
Angba said that the case reported as a r*pe case was actually a phone theft case.
“No student was r*ped, beaten, or harmed on campus; it was a case of phone theft and foodstuff. We have similar phone theft cases on campus and we have done our best to recover them,” he said.
He blamed the misinformation on some “bloggers” who rushed to publish their reports without due investigation and balance from the university authorities.
He said that the police had begun an investigation on the matter with a view of apprehending the suspects and recovering the stolen phone and foodstuff.
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 barbed wire to prevent further occurrences.
“We have asked the student involved to give us the registration number of the phone.
“We are going to pay for the tracking of the phone and also ensure it is recovered and handed over to the rightful owner.
“I 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,” 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.