Dr Abiola Akinyode-Afolabi, the
defence counsel for Miss Monica Osagie, the alleged victim in the sex-for-marks
scandal at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, said on Tuesday that her client
affirmed before an investigative panel that Prof. Richard Akindele deliberately
failed her because she refused his sexual demand.
The News Agency of Nigeria
reports that Osagie had appeared before the committee set up by the
institution’s authorities in company with her counsel.
Osagie, a postgraduate student in
the Masters of Business programme, had released a recorded telephone
conversation, which went viral, in which the lecturer identified as Akindele,
allegedly demanded sex for 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 Right Commission who came to witness the sitting
were not allowed into the venue by security personnel of the institution who
manned the entrance.
Akinyode-Afolabi, who spoke with
newsmen after the closed door session which lasted for more than seven hours,
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.
Akinyode-Afolabi, who is the
Executive Director for Human Advocate 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.
Akinyode-Afolabi said some
lawyers who represented the lecturers who Osagie claimed she reported the case
to also appeared before the panel.
She said that Osagie also told
the panel that she did not score 33 per cent as alleged but was failed so that
she could bow to the sexual demand of the don.
Akinyode-Afolabi said she was
optimistic that the outcome of the panel would serve as a lesson to other
lecturers who also engage in such acts.
She, however, urged the panel to
ensure that justice prevailed on the issue so as to maintain the integrity of
the institution.
Akinyode-Afolabi, who did not
allow Osagie to talk to newsmen, said her client would always be available to
give evidence whenever she was called upon.
Members of the panel did not also
speak with newsmen after the meeting.
A lesson to all Nigerian Lecturers who engage themselves in this disgraceful act.
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