The management of Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, has suspended Professor Ifeanyi Sunny Odinye of the Department of Chinese Studies for three months on half salary.
The suspension follows preliminary findings from an investigation into a controversial incident involving the lecturer and a female student.
The university disclosed this in a statement issued on Monday by its Director of Information and Public Relations, Aloysius Attah.
It also referred the student, Chikamso Favour Okechukwu, to its Students’ Examination Misconduct Committee for further proceedings.
According to the statement, “The Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Prof. Ugochukwu Bond Stanley Anyaehie has approved the suspension of Prof. Ifeanyi Sunny Odinye, a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Studies for a period of three (3) months with half salary on the first instance, following the recommendations of the six-man Special Investigative Panel who submitted their preliminary report on Friday, 21st August 2026.”
The decisions follow a viral video that showed Odinye being assaulted and stripped by a group of people on the university premises on August 15, 2026.
The video was accompanied by allegations that he had sexually harassed the female student.
A six member Special Investigative Panel, chaired by Professor Emmanuel Obidimma, Provost of the College of Postgraduate Studies, was constituted to look into the matter.
The panel’s preliminary report addressed two of its five terms of reference.
It found that Odinye breached provisions of the university’s General and Academic Regulations in his handling of an alleged examination misconduct case involving the student.
The statement read, “The panel, chaired by Prof. Emmanuel Obidimma, Provost, College of Postgraduate Studies, in its preliminary report which dealt on two issues out of the five for determination, indicted Prof Odinye for contravening Section 5.8.3 of the General and Academic Regulations (GAR) of Nnamdi Azikiwe University by failing to not only record and submit the case of examination misconduct against Chikamso Favour Okechukwu on the prescribed Examination Misconduct Report Form but also gave back the offending phone recovered during the examination to the student on the same day in total disregard to section 5.8.1(iv) of the GAR.”
The university said the panel is yet to conclude its investigation into whether Odinye sexually harassed the student, who assaulted the lecturer, and whether there was any incident of kidnapping.
The panel has been given an additional two weeks to complete its assignment.
Odinye is a professor in UNIZIK’s Department of Chinese Studies and a prominent academic in the development of Chinese language studies in Nigeria.
The university describes him as the first indigenous professor of Chinese language in Nigeria and Africa.
He joined the university in 2005 and later became the pioneer coordinator and head of its Chinese Studies Department.
He obtained a doctorate in Chinese language from Xiamen University in 2013 and was appointed pioneer coordinator of the university’s Bachelor of Chinese Studies programme.
Digital Operations Manager at The Students Forum Nigeria.
