By Tony Adibe
The Law faculty of Godfrey Okoye University (GOUNI), Enugu, on Monday, gave reasons for celebrating the Deputy National Chairman (DNC) South, of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Ben Nwoye, insisting that his continuous support to the citadel of learning and recent elevation to his current office could hardly be ignored.
Nwoye, a legal icon and a politician, was described by the management as a “dependable ally” of the institution right from the beginning. Addressing the gathering during a student event held inside the auditorium of the GOUNI Law Faculty, the Vice Chancellor, Very Rev. Fr. Professor Christian Anieke, said the students and management decided to celebrate Nwoye due to his “enormous contribution and outstanding relationship” with them since inception.
Anieke said that Nwoye, a lawyer turned politician, “has been part and parcel of our law faculty,” stressing that he started supporting it from day one of its existence. He recalled that the Deputy National Chairman has invested so much in the law student formation department.
The Vice Chancellor explained that the APC chieftain has been supporting the law students with scholarship and funding their different activities, including organizing an end-of-academic programme party for them at his country home in Amuri ancient kingdom, Nkanu West Council Area of Enugu State.
Anieke said: “So, when we got the news of his election into his new office as the Deputy National Chairman, DNC (South) of the APC, the number two man in the party, we decided that we should honour him, because he has done so much for the law faculty.”
He also said, “We are not stopping here, we are going to do more for him to show Nigerians that Dr. Ben Nwoye is a great man and deserves to be celebrated.” However, Dr Nwoye, while addressing the management and law students present at the event, appreciated the faculty for the honour done him.
Earlier, he had received a colourfully designed congratulatory package bearing his portrait, and presented to him by the Vice Chancellor, for his victory at the APC convention in Abuja. The excited and ebullient Nwoye told the gathering, “I’m indeed deeply grateful for this gesture. I have been a friend of the university, particularly the law faculty, over the years, but never knew they were taking cognisance of my participation and movement in Nigeria’s political space.”
Although Nwoye said he studied abroad, he, however, has a soft spot for GOUNI to the extent of regarding it as his alma mater. He said: “So, I’m not just delighted by this gesture, but extremely honoured by this show of love, show of brotherhood by the law faculty. Though I didn’t study or attend law school in Nigeria, but have always felt GOUNI is my Alma mater.”
As a way to motivate law students to demonstrate greater zeal and commitment to their studies, Nwoye announced a N500,000 reward for the best graduating student in the faculty, N300,000 for the second-best, and N200,000 for the third-best. The politician also announced cash gifts to the law lecturers as well as to the faculty management.
However, in their separate remarks, the incumbent Dean of the faculty, Prof. Frank Asogwa, his predecessor in office, and current Rector, Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Enugu, Professor Gozie Ogbodo, lauded Nwoye’s spirit of generosity, especially to the law students.
For the ex-Dean, the event was more of a homecoming for all of them, including the DNC, whom he described as “a true friend of the faculty,” stressing that “we have come to celebrate a man who believes so much in us.” According to him, “When nobody believed in us, one man, Dr. Ben Nwoye, invested his resources in us.”
He recounted how Nwoye had been treating the students to lavish get-togethers during students’ Law Week at his country home. “So, I must say that this recognition today is well deserved, because it’s a way of reciprocating what Dr. Nwoye has been doing for our facility,” he said.
NewsBits reports that the event featured the conduct of the faculty students’ election, which Nwoye also witnessed.
