The Commissioner for Education in Anambra State, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, has lashed out on a job-seeking teacher who reportedly sought clarification about the recently concluded teacher’s recruitment exercise in the state.
The teacher was said to have called the commissioner on phone for enquiries regarding the exercise which was held across three centres in the state on Saturday.
But Mrs Chuma-Udeh, a professor of English, shouted at the applicant accusing her of being indisciplined and disobeying the instructions of the recruitment exercise.
The recorded phone conversation has gone viral on social media.
“Madam, you’re an idiot. You mean the computers are doing what? I received a report by 12 noon that you people refused to stand in line. You refused to be identified, and you mobbed.
“You people were trying to get into the hall at the same time, you refused to be disciplined up till this moment, and you have the effrontery, you stupid woman, to call me on phone and talk rubbish?” Mrs Chuma-Udeh was heard yelling at the applicant.
She continued, “Get out of my phone you filthy thing. You really want to be a teacher? How will you tell your students to conform to instructions, when you cannot stand in line and move into the hall?
“Please, I have no pity for you and I have nothing to say to you. We have already examined up to 1, 400 candidates and…. You are all hooligans.”
The commissioner’s outburst was said to be a reaction to a reported stampede that occurred at Nnewi Examination Centre, one of the centres where the recruitment examination was held.
In the centre where the applicant reportedly sat the examination, the stampede began when some applicants surged to enter the hall before others.
Soludo reacts
Meanwhile, the state governor, Charles Soludo, has reacted to the controversy.
He said the job-seeking teacher resorted to raining curses and abuses on him and the commissioner after she failed the examination which prompted the response by the commissioner.
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In a statement by his spokesperson, Christian Aburime, Monday night, the governor accused the applicant of editing the viral phone conversation out of frustration to blackmail the commissioner.
Mr Soludo stressed that his administration was committed to the conduct of a “seamless and transparent ongoing recruitment exercise” for teachers in the state.
He explained that the commissioner’s comments were as a result of the “uncouth language” and “other unprintable words hurled at the commissioner” by the applicant.
“As public officers operating in public space, the commissioner has apologised for her inappropriate choice of words in the said voice note,” Mr Soludo said.
The governor vowed not to be distracted in giving qualified teachers the opportunity to serve the state and contribute in shaping the future of school children.
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