Miss Monica Osagie, the victim in the sex-for-marks scandal at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile- Ife, has told an investigative panel that Professor Richard Akindele deliberately failed her because she refused his sexual advances.
Osagie said she did not score 33 per cent as the lecturer claimed, but was failed so that she could bow to his sexual demands.
She said this yesterday when she appeared before the panel, along with her lawyer, Dr Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi. Osagie had appeared before the committee set up by the institution’s authorities in company of her counsel.
Osagie, a student in the Masters of Business programme, released a recorded telephone conversation, which went viral, in which the lecturer identified as Akindele, demanded five rounds of sex to enhance her marks.
The committee, which held its session at the Pro -Chancellor’s Lodge on the campus, allowed only Osagie and her counsel into the venue. Journalists, students and some members of the National Human Rights Commission, who came to witness the sitting, were not allowed into the venue by security personnel of the institution, who blocked the entrance. The session lasted for more than seven hours.
Akiyode-Afolabi said Osagie told the panel that she passed the course but was later failed by the don because of her refusal to sleep with him.
She said that Osagie narrated in details what transpired between her and the don, adding that lawyers present at the meeting were not allowed to make any contribution. Akiyode-Afolabi, who is the Executive Director for Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, Abuja, said that Osagie also informed the panel that she recorded the conversation between her and the professor as evidence.
She said Osagie also informed the panel that she reported the sexual harassment by the don to some lecturers in the university, adding that no action was taken by them. Akiyode-Afolabi said some lawyers, who represented the lecturers to whom Osagie claimed she reported the case, also appeared before the panel. Akiyode-Afolabi said she was optimistic that the outcome of the investigative panel would serve as a lesson to other lecturers who also engage in such act.
She, however, urged the panel to ensure that justice prevailed on the issue so as to maintain the integrity of the institution.
Akiyode-Afolabi, who did not allow Osagie to talk to journalists, said that her client would always be available to give evidence whenever she was called upon. Members of the panel did not speak with journalists after the meeting. It would be recalled that a recorded audio conversation of the don demanding for sex to increase the marks of the female postgraduate student had gone viral. The audio recording generated reactions from a cross-section of the public, making the university authorities to set up an investigative panel.
The vice chancellor, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, on Friday confirmed the suspension of Akindele. Ogunbodede, in a statement, said he had received and considered the interim report of the committee set up to investigate the allegation of sexual harassment revealed in the audio recording.
The vice chancellor said that though the investigative committee invited both Akindele and Osagie, only the don had appeared before the committee
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