Following his indictment by a high-powered Panel set up to investigate a grave allegation of meddlesomeness in the Graduate programme of the Department of Fine Arts and Design, Management has placed Professor Frank Ugiomoh on suspension with immediate effect.
The ad-hoc Panel which was headed by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Administration), Professor Regina Ogali, submitted its report to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ndowa Lale on Wednesday, October 3, 2017. The suspension order will stand, pending further investigation as directed by the Governing Council into the alleged infraction. A letter to that effect captioned: “Suspension from Duty dated October 6, 2017 which was signed by the Registrar, Mrs. Dorcas Otto, disclosed that Professor Ugiomoh was suspended for engaging in an act of gross misconduct and flagrant disregard for constituted authority in the Department and Faculty of Humanities. “I have been directed by the Vice-Chancellor in accordance with Section 16(2) of the University of Port Harcourt Act to place you on suspension from your duty with effect from the date of this letter till further notice, pending investigation as shall be ordered by the Governing Council into an allegation of gross misconduct to wit: An act of flagrant meddlesomeness in the affairs of the graduate programme of the Department of Fine Arts and Design and disregard for constituted authority in the Department and the Faculty of Humanities,” the suspension letter read in part.
In addition to his suspension, management also reprimanded Professor Ugiomoh for breaching the standard set by the University in assessment of candidates seeking elevation to the Professoriate. The Registrar in the letter pointed out that Professor Ugiomoh received and assessed the papers of a professorial candidate in his Department without recourse to the Head of Department in Line with extant rules. “This is in breach of the standard university practice whereby the staff concerned submits his/her papers to relevant assessors. In the light of the above, Management has directed that you be reprimanded for failing to provide good academic leadership and uphold the University culture,” the registrar said in a separate letter of reprimand to Professor Ugiomoh. As a result of his suspension order, Professor Ugiomoh has been relieved of his headship of the Professional Ethics Committee and the Yemisi Shyllon Chair, amongst other offices.
Two Senior Lecturers, Drs, Ovet Efajemue and Margaret Agiginni , were similarly reprimanded for their involvement in premeditated acts of influencing change of supervisors for some doctoral candidates in the Department without regard to approved procedure for doing so.

Source: Uniport News Nov-2017

**Update**

Prof. Frank Ugiomoh has since been fired by University of Port Harcourt and is no longer a staff of the University.

I just had signup to comment after seeing this on twitter. This Prof Frank Ugiomoh deserves to be sacked by Uniport not just given suspension. the man is wicked, arrogant and heartless. I have witnessed him slapping people anyhow, using his office and title to intimidate everybody. He has severally stood up and dragged mic to shut down the uniport catholic priest during sermons in the full glare of the congregation. I wonder why Uniport left him to be misbehaving all this time. I am sure the story of the two students is just a cover he is using to save himself.

please let the moderators move this to front page, let all the big gods know that there is always a day of reckoning for the wicked.

It should be moved to the appropriate section

lordragner:
I just had signup to comment after seeing this on twitter. This Prof Frank Ugiomoh deserves to be sacked by Uniport not just given suspension. the man is wicked, arrogant and heartless. I have witnessed him slapping people anyhow, using his office and title to intimidate everybody. He has severally stood up and dragged mic to shut down the uniport catholic priest during sermons in the full glare of the congregation. I wonder why Uniport left him to be misbehaving all this time. I am sure the story of the two students is just a cover he is using to save himself.

please let the moderators move this to front page, let all the big gods know that there is always a day of reckoning for the wicked.

Lordragner- I can't speak on the issue of Prof. Frank slapping people anyhow because I was not in his department during my days in Uniport and I have not seen or heard that he slapped any one in public. But on the issue of Prof. Frank interrupting a Priest during sermon and collecting the mic from him, Its a big lie. I don't even know where you got this from. I am a parishioner at the same Catholic church Prof. Frank attends and he has always been a good and dedicated worker in that parish. He is more like the catechist there and he has never publicly insulted any priest there, not to talk of taking the mic from a priest during sermon. Do you even know the consequence of taking the mic from a catholic priest during his sermon? The person will be excommunicated from the church by the church authorities. It will be front line news. That's how organized the catholic church is. I don't think you are a catholic, if not you will not mention this allegation. Get your facts right before criticizing someone.

Frank Ugiomoh has since been fired from Uniport