Professor Benedicta Daudu, involved in a 2016 exam scandal at the University of Jos, has filed a N7 billion defamation lawsuit against PREMIUM TIMES, claiming that their reports damaged her reputation and hindered her chances of becoming a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
A professor involved in an examination scandal at the University of Jos (UNIJOS) in 2016 has filed a defamation lawsuit against PREMIUM TIMES, seeking N7 billion in damages.
Benedicta Daudu, currently teaching at Taraba State University, brought the case to the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja, claiming that the newspaper’s reports about her examination misconduct tarnished her reputation and affected her chances of achieving the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
In May 2016, while pursuing a second master’s degree in Research and Public Policy at UNIJOS, Mrs. Daudu was caught with unauthorized materials during an exam. At the time, she was an associate professor and head of a department in the Faculty of Law.
The university suspended her from the master’s program for one academic session and also suspended her from her staff position for six months. Following the scandal, she stepped down from her role on the Presidential Advisory Committee against Corruption (PACAC).
PREMIUM TIMES recently reported on Mrs. Daudu’s application for the SAN rank, noting her past involvement in the exam misconduct scandal. Although she was shortlisted, she did not make the final selection. Mrs. Daudu contends that these reports were false and malicious, aimed at damaging her professional standing.
She denies being found guilty of cheating and claims she was wrongly accused of possessing unauthorized materials during the exam. She further asserts that the reports unfairly portrayed her as unfit for the SAN rank and as a poor example in the legal profession.
The professor’s lawsuit demands N7 billion in damages, with N2 billion allocated for general damages from the reports and N5 billion for what she describes as the publication’s extreme malice. She also seeks a court order requiring PREMIUM TIMES to retract the articles and issue public apologies across multiple media outlets.
The exam misconduct case dates back to 2016 when Mrs. Daudu was found with revision notes during an exam.
Following the incident, the university’s disciplinary committee suspended her from both her academic program and her staff role. Although she initially challenged her suspension in court, the case was eventually dismissed, and she later reached an out-of-court settlement with the university, allowing her to resign and continue her studies after serving a suspension.
However, this settlement sparked controversy, with reports mistakenly suggesting that the university had reinstated her and cleared her of wrongdoing, prompting a strong denial from the university.
READ ALSO: KWASU Appoints Professor Olawale Moshood Aliyu as Dean of School of Postgraduate Studies.
SOURCES: ALLSCHOOL, PREMIUM TIMES
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