The management of PAMO University of Medical Sciences (PUMS), Rivers State, has demanded an apology and immediate retraction from the Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Martin Amaewhule, over alleged defamatory remarks concerning the institution’s management of scholarship funds.
The demand was contained in a letter dated Thursday, September 3, 2026, and signed by the university’s solicitor, Ayodeji Adedipe, SAN.
The university took exception to comments allegedly made by Amaewhule while presenting the 2026 Rivers State Appropriation Act to Governor Siminalayi Fubara for assent at the Executive Council Chambers of the Government House in Port Harcourt.
According to the letter, the Speaker said the Assembly’s committee had considered a proposed N6 billion allocation to PAMO University under the 2026 budget but raised concerns over the institution’s handling of funds previously allocated to it.
Amaewhule was also quoted as saying that the Assembly could not determine what had happened to taxpayers’ money released to the university over the years.
The university’s lawyers further alleged that the Speaker claimed PUMS had been invited by a House committee to provide an account of the funds but failed to appear or submit the required records and reports.
However, the university’s counsel described the allegations as “totally false and unfounded”.
The institution maintained that neither the Rivers State House of Assembly nor any other body had invited it to account for funds received from the state government under the scholarship programme for Rivers students.
PUMS also stated that since the commencement of the scholarship scheme, it had applied the funds strictly and judiciously for the purposes for which they were provided.
According to the university, the comments had left its management “thoroughly embarrassed, maligned and defamed”, particularly the allegation that it had failed to operate transparently in managing scholarship funds.
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Its lawyers argued that the statements, as understood by an average person, portrayed the university as an irresponsible and fraudulent institution that had mismanaged or diverted funds allocated by the Rivers State Government for students’ education.
Consequently, PUMS demanded an immediate retraction of the alleged defamatory statements and a formal apology from the Speaker.
The university gave Amaewhule 24 hours from the time he was notified of the letter to comply with the demands.
The letter warned that failure to meet the demands within the stipulated period would result in the commencement of legal proceedings against the Speaker before a court of competent jurisdiction, without further notice.
