Lecturer Bags 6 Months for Forgery, Defamation

A Magistrate Court sitting in Awka, the Anambra State capital, has sentenced a varsity lecturer, Mr. Peter Ekemezie, to six months imprisonment for forgery and publication of defamatory statements against one Prof. Alex Asigbo.

Ekemezie, erstwhile lecturer at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka, was charged with three counts bordering on forgery and defamation, but was, however, given an option of N300,000 fine.

Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, His Worship, E. C. Chukwu, noted that he took into consideration the fact that the defendant had spent one month in a psychiatric home and four months in a correctional centre.

In the course of the trial, Prof. Asigbo had 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.

According to him, that led Ekemezie to write and publish series of defamatory statements against him on Facebook and other social media platforms.

The convicted lecturer has since been sacked by NAU.