Kendall Ananyi: Tizeti founder accused of sexual harassment

Kendall Ananyi who co-founded Tizeti and wifi.com.ng, has been accused of sexual harassment and molestation by Kelechi Udoagwu, a young woman he was reportedly mentoring.

Tizeti provides high speed broadband internet to residences and businesses in Nigeria. The company also deploys public Wi-fi Hotspot to locations across Africa.

According to Udoagwu who tweets with the handle @anti_ratrace, “I just laughed sadly cos I remember one Naija #tech mentor who was supposed to be mentoring me when I was in MEST & this dude (married) pulled out and put his d** in my hands in the bright afternoon, begging me for anything I could do *sigh."

“His name is Kendall Ananyi. Founder of wifi.com.ng or Tizeti.”

There have been renewed outrage against rape, sexual harassment and gender-based violence in Nigeria’s social media space since 22-year-old Uwa Omozuwa, a first year student of the University of Benin, was raped and killed inside her church parish on May 27, 2020, during her study hours.

Tweeting further, Udoagwu said: “I did not go through 1/10 of what Uwa and countless other women have gone through. They are dead. They died because guys like you forced themselves on them.

“I am speaking LOUD for the women who have died due to rape murder. PLEASE STOP MISSING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES. #StopRape.

“I don't need any more “sorry for what you went thru. I do not need you to boycott Tizeti, most of y’all were already doing that cos of poor service.

“If you’re not a troll, pls channel your anger towards taking a stand against RAPE & MURDER of our women #WeAreTired #JusticeForUwa.”

Udoagwu and Ananyi were not immediately available for comments for this story. Phone calls placed to both parties were not answered or were cut off.

An email sent to the Tizeti boss is also yet to be replied.

Pulse will update this story with Ananyi’s response as soon as we have those.

Tizeti responds

In a statement posted on its Twitter page, the company said it had commissioned an investigation into the allegation.

"Our attention has been drawn to a series of tweets posted by Kelechi Udoagwu on Twitter between June 2 and 3, 2020, where she alleges that our CEO, Kendall Ananyi, sexually harassed her during an interaction two years ago.

"As a company, we have zero tolerance for harassment and outright condemn sexual harassment of any kind and empathize with any person who faces incidents of sexual harassment.

"We have commissioned an investigation into the allegations. Tizeti is fully committed to high ethical standards, gender equality and making sure our diverse team feel comfortable and safe at all times," the company said.

Activists, politicians and social media influencers have mounted a strong campaign against rape and gender-based violence in Nigeria in recent times.

Pulse reported this week that 19-year-old Barakat Bello, a student of the Institute of Agriculture, Research and Training, Ibadan, was gang raped and murdered in her home.