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UNILAG Official Accused Of Sexual Harassment

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A Principal Assistant Registrar at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Babatunde Oseni, is currently trapped in a sexual harassment scandal following a report filed against him at the security unit of the institution by a female colleague.

The accuser, Tawa Akande, a level six library assistant currently attached to the maintenance unit of the institution, submitted written complaints and audio clips as evidence.

Mr Oseni has, however, denied the allegation.

Ms Akande alleged that Mr Oseni forcefully kissed and molested her in his office at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Idi-Araba campus of the university, in October 2021.

Mr Oseni, who is the faculty officer, is also the chairman of the UNILAG chapter of the Association of Nigerian Universities Professional Administrators (ANUPA) and a member of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

In a related recorded conversation submitted by the accuser, another officer in the faculty, an assistant registrar, Fredrick Edebiri, was heard offering to provide ‘original’ condoms for Ms Akande to avoid pregnancy if she agreed to sleep with Mr Oseni.

Also, the Dean of the UNILAG Faculty of Pharmacy, Aderonke Adepoju-Bello, a professor, also confirmed she investigated and ‘resolved’ the matter when brought to her attention in 2021.

The university has also set up a committee to “investigate the alleged case of sexual harassment and conduct likely to cause breach of peace of the University of Lagos.”

The allegation
According to Ms Akande, she had been the faculty’s library officer before Mr Oseni, a lawyer, was transferred to the faculty.

She said Mr Oseni, as the faculty officer and head of the registry staff, usually sent her on errands including “typing and printing documents for him instead of asking the faculty secretary to do so”.

“Sometimes, he would ask me to close the library – my office, to stay in his office. He would invite me to his house to cook for him but I always insisted that as a married woman I couldn’t do that,” she said.

The Loan and the harassment
She said in October 2021, she needed to pay up a loan at the university’s cooperative society in order to be qualified for a new loan.

“So I approached Mr Oseni to lend me N40,000. I promised to pay up as soon as the loan was approved. And he gave me,” she explained.

She said Mr Oseni then appointed her to coordinate a team of junior workers in the faculty to stamp answer scripts for students examinations.

“He was staying on the main campus and I was staying in Mushin at the time. So, he would give me the key to his office and said I must resume there before his arrival, especially when we were stamping the scripts,” Ms Akande said.

“So on that fateful day, I got to his office around 7:30 a.m. and I was busy with the answer scripts when he opened the office. But rather than answering my greeting from a distance, he simply moved near the corner where I was working and bent down to forcefully kiss me. I was dazed and I slapped him immediately.”

She said she rushed out of the office, panting and sobbing.

“Because my eyes were red and I was nervous, a driver in the faculty approached me to find out what transpired and after much hesitation, I narrated my experience. The man advised me to report to the management but there was no evidence,” she added.

Ms Akande said the unnamed driver even offered her his phone so she could return to Mr Oseni to record their conversation as evidence. “But I couldn’t summon the courage to do that then.”

“Since then, I have avoided Barrister Oseni’s office and rejected all his entreaties. But I was also looking for an opportunity to get evidence for what he did to me,” she added.

Ms Akande said when it was time to refund the loan given to her by Mr Oseni, she decided to pay N20,000 instead of the N40,000 she borrowed.

Due to their strained relationship, she said, Mr Oseni reported her to her colleagues and the dean of the faculty about the money owed him.

“That was what gave me the opportunity to meet him, and I asked him if he also told the dean how he sexually harassed me, and how I slapped him. And that was how we reopened the conversation to catch him red-handed on tape. I recorded everything,” Ms Akande said.

Edebiri and the condom offer
The accuser also recorded Mr Edebiri during their conversations on the same matter.

The recording revealed how Mr Edebiri offered to ask Mr Oseni if he would consider marrying Ms Akande if she became pregnant for him.

Audio tape between another officer in the faculty, an assistant registrar and Mr Oseni’s second in command, Fredrick Edebiri cajoling Tawa Akande to have sex with Mr Oseni.

At another moment, Mr Edebiri assured Ms Akande that she could not be pregnant for Mr Oseni and offered her ‘original’ condoms worth N7,000.

Oseni, Edebiri react
In separate interviews with PREMIUM TIMES, Messrs Oseni and Edebiri accused Ms Akande of setting them up.

Mr Oseni said he would not want to react on the matter unless cleared by the university authorities to do so. He, however, denied any wrongdoing.

In a telephone interview, Mr Oseni said he would not respond to the allegations except the reporter could confirm to him that the accuser had been interviewed, a request the reporter declined.

“But if you don’t want to tell me she spoke to you without approval from the authorities, I can now tell you that whatever you have heard is mere hearsay, fabrication and character assassination,” Mr Oseni said.

On his part, Mr Edebiri said he knew nothing about the duo’s relationship, saying “he was only engaging his colleague (Ms Akande) in a conversation in his usual free manner”.

He said he had earlier warned Mr Oseni not to lend Ms Akande money because he knew her to be a ‘perpetual debtor.’

“I advised Oseni based on my experience with Tawa who refused to pay me twice until after a very long time and struggle,” he said.

Mr Edebiri said he was involved in the matter only when Mr Oseni reported Ms Akande to him over her failure to refund the loan and threatened to involve the dean.

“So I told her to refund Oseni to avoid being reported to the dean. That is all that I knew until the following day when she called me out of my office to discuss this matter. She asked questions in a friendly manner and I didn’t know I was being recorded,” he said.

UNILAG Dean’s intervention
Following the report by Mr Oseni, the Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy, Aderonke Adepoju-Bello, said she called a meeting of concerned faculty members including Mr Edebiri, and “resolved the matter.”

Mrs Adepoju-Bello by resolution refunded Mr Oseni and got Ms Akande to agree to a convenient time she would be able to pay her.

“I also warned them to desist from such conducts because the tape when played was very embarrassing to me. I also warned the lady to stop borrowing around,” Mrs Adepoju-Bello said.

Meanwhile, Ms Akande also alleged that due to the conflict, Mr Oseni refused to endorse her Annual Performance Appraisal (APA) form.

“The dean eventually signed for me instead of Mr Oseni,” Ms Akande said.

Ms Akande said in November 2021, the matter was brought to the attention of the human resources unit of the university, which eventually transferred her from the faculty.

“I was first transferred to the personnel unit but in less than 24 hours, I got another letter that I should join the maintenance unit of the (UNILAG) Senate building”.

She said she was asked to delete the recordings and “I did but not all.”
“Since last year when the matter was settled, he thought I had already deleted all the evidence, Mr Oseni started harassing me physically whenever he saw me on the campus. He would call me names publicly and warned people to avoid me because I’m a bad woman,” she said.

Matter resurfaces, UNILAG acts
Ms Akande and Mr Oseni recently met at the reception of the university’s Senate building, the accuser said. She said Mr Oseni “publicly assaulted her.”

Ms Akande said the elevator operator, who was identified simply as Mr Dayo, was forced to tell Mr Oseni to stop embarrassing Ms Akande.

It was gathered that the matter almost degenerated to fisticuff between Mr. Oseni and Dayo, leading to Ms Akande’s decision to report the matter at the university’s security post.

UNILAG Management sets up committee
On July 25, the security unit submitted a report on the matter to management, which immediately set up a six-member committee, with the university’s Director of Distance Learning Institute (DLI), Uchenna Udeani, as chairman, and Abolade Akinwunmi, a principal assistant registrar with the Records Unit, as secretary.

Other members of the committee include the immediate past registrar of the university, Folasade Ipaye; acting Chairman of the UNILAG’s chapter of SSANU, Olusola Sowunmi; Iyabode Ogunniran of the Department of Public Law, and one other person, as members.

The committee was given three weeks to submit its report.

The head of the public relations unit of the university, Abimbola Ojo, could not be reached to comment for this story.

She was said to be out of the country. She also did not reply to a message sent to her.

Credit: Premium Times

BIG STORY

Doyin Okupe Reacts To Peter Obi’s Viral Video, Says I Cannot Support Him Again

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Doyin Okupe, the former director-general of the Labour Party (LP) presidential campaign in 2023, says he “cannot support” Peter Obi again.

Okupe spoke on Monday during an interview with Seun Okinbaloye on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

He was reacting to a viral clip of Obi commenting on how the country’s economic situation offers little relief to people in the south-west, despite President Bola Tinubu being from the zone.

“Let us talk about what is happening today. Rice is about N100,000. We are not even sure where we are going to be. ‘It’s our turn’, ‘he is a Yoruba man’ — ask the people in Ogun, here is there any place you people buy bread cheaper?” Obi said in the viral clip.

The video generated mixed reactions on social media, with some supporting Obi’s comments while others criticised him.

Adding his voice to the criticism, Okupe described the former LP presidential candidate’s remark as an “insult” to people in the south-west.

He said Obi’s statement publicly demeaned the south-west, even though “eminent Yoruba people” had supported him during his presidential campaign in 2023.

“When Obi made that statement, it insulted us. I am a Yoruba man; I left everything and followed Obi.

“For the first time, Obasanjo left his circle of influence and deviated to support Obi,” Okupe said.

“I do not regret supporting Peter Obi. But now I cannot do it again. The reason why I did it was because we agreed that a southern president must emerge.

“I was approached that if a southern president must emerge, which zone must it come to? I said the south-east.

“If all these eminent Yoruba people supported you, why now bring us down publicly? It is wrong.”

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Lagos Muslim Cleric Bags Life Jail For Raping 14-Yr-Old Girl Inside Mosque

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Alani Rafiu, a Muslim cleric, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court for raping a 14-year-old girl inside a mosque.

Justice Rahman Oshodi delivered the verdict on Monday, after finding Rafiu guilty of child defilement. The cleric was arraigned on October 28, 2021, for having sexual intercourse with the teenager, but pleaded not guilty, leading to a trial.

During the trial, the prosecution, led by B. Boye, presented three witnesses, including the victim, who testified against Rafiu. The prosecution provided compelling evidence, including the victim’s testimony and medical reports, which revealed a calculated pattern of predatory behavior by the cleric.

Justice Oshodi emphasized that Rafiu’s actions were particularly egregious due to his position of trust as a religious instructor and family friend.

The judge stated that the gravity of the offence could not be overstated, as Rafiu exploited the victim’s vulnerability and betrayed the trust placed in him.

“The gravity of your offence cannot be overstated. You betrayed the trust placed in you as a religious instructor and family friend.

“Instead of nurturing and protecting a vulnerable 14-year-old child entrusted to your spiritual care, you repeatedly sexually abused her in a place of worship.

“This conduct is criminal and represents a profound violation of secular and religious principles,” he said.

Oshodi further held that the evidence revealed a calculated pattern of predatory behaviour, as the convict deliberately isolated the child, exploited her vulnerability, and bought her silence with money.

“The evidence revealed a calculated pattern of predatory behaviour. You deliberately isolated the child, exploited her vulnerability, and bought her silence with money.

“The physical and psychological trauma inflicted on this young girl is immeasurable. At an age when she should have been focused on her education and development, she was subjected to experiences that no child should endure,” the judge held.

Oshodi also stated that having carefully considered all the evidence before the court, there was compelling and consistent proof establishing that the prosecutrix was indeed a child below the age of 18 years at the time of the alleged offence in May 2021.

He said the evidence manifested through multiple sources.

Oshodi said, “When the prosecutrix testified before this court, she stated that she was 15 years old and 14 when the alleged incident occurred.

“Notably, she was still attending primary school then, explicitly saying she was in Primary 3.

“The prosecutrix’s educational level, being in Primary 3, at the time of her testimony, while not determinative of age, provides supporting circumstantial evidence consistent with her being a young teenager rather than an adult.

“The consistency of these multiple sources of evidence – the police and guardian testimony, the prosecutrix’s evidence, and circumstantial evidence – all converge to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the prosecutrix was 14 years old at the time of the alleged offence in May 2021.

“The defence led no evidence to contradict these age-related facts, nor was the prosecutrix’s age challenged during cross-examination of any of the prosecution witnesses”.

The judge said the prosecutrix provided a detailed, firsthand account of sexual intercourse with the convict.

“Her testimony was specific. She offered a detailed sequential account of the sexual assault. She testified that at the mosque (where the convict, whom she referred to as Alfa), isolated her. He would then lock the door, remove her underwear, and instruct her to lie on the floor.

“She explicitly stated that Rafiu would then insert his penis into her vagina. When asked about frequency, she confirmed this occurred three times.

“She further testified that these acts would result in bleeding, which the convict would have her clean with a handkerchief. Afterwards, he would instruct her to put her underwear back on before taking her outside,” he said.

According to Oshodi, this testimony provides a direct account of penile-vaginal penetration, with specific details about the sequence of events, location, frequency, and aftermath of the sexual acts.

“The prosecutrix maintained during cross-examination that this occurred three times, explicitly stating, “He had sex with me three times.”

The judge noted that the prosecutrix testimony remained consistent even when challenged about the timeframe, clarifying that these incidents occurred.

He said the medical evidence further strengthened the evidence of sexual intercourse. It reports that the transection found in the prosecutrix’s vagina was “consistent with forceful penetrative injury to the [prosecutrix’s] anus and vagina”.

Before passing down the verdict, Oshodi said, “What makes your conduct particularly egregious is your abuse of religious authority and the sacred space of a mosque to perpetrate these violations.

“Places of worship should be sanctuaries of safety and spiritual growth, not venues for the exploitation of children.

“The medical evidence and the prosecutrix’s testimony paint a disturbing picture of the physical harm you caused.

The bleeding she experienced and your callous provision of a handkerchief to clean up the evidence of your abuse demonstrate a shocking disregard for her well-being.

“This court must protect children from sexual predators and send a clear message that such conduct will be met with the full force of the law.

“The sentence must reflect society’s abhorrence of child sexual abuse and serve as a deterrent to others who might contemplate similar crimes.

“Therefore, I now sentence you to life imprisonment by section 137 of the Criminal Law. Furthermore, under sections 33 and 38 of the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency Law, 2021, I order that you be registered as a sex offender in the Sex Offenders Register maintained by the Lagos State Government,” he held.

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UPDATE: Minors Freed As Court Strikes Out Suit Against 119 #EndBadGovernance Protesters

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A federal high court in Abuja has struck out the suit against 119 protesters charged over the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protest.

Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, dismissed the case following an application by M.D. Abubakar, counsel to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF).

Abubakar had requested permission to take over and discontinue the suit.

During the session on Tuesday, Abubakar asked the court to allow the AGF to take over the charge.

This development comes just hours after President Bola Tinubu directed the attorney-general and law enforcement to release all minors detained over the protest.

As of the time of reporting, all the minors have been freed.

 

More to come…

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