Stella Oduah wants university to investigate accused professor

dimeji akinloye

April 10, 2018 8:43 PM

Oduah said more female students must be encouraged to speak up by creating mechanisms that protect them from victimisation.

Senator

Oduah was reacting to the viral audio recording between a female student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and a lecturer at the institution identified as Professor Richard Akindele.

In the audio, the lecturer was heard demanding to have sex with the student five times as a gratification to upgrade the low mark she scored in a course thought by the professor.

Oduah, who is also the Vice-chairman Senate Committee on Women Affairs, said the lecturer must be captured in a database which would ensure that he would not be able to teach or take up employment at other educational institutions.

The Senator stated this while speaking on the floor of the Senate and she also issued a statement buttressing her points on Tuesday, April 10, 2018.

"This conversation must not be swept under the rug. The University should investigate this issue and deal decisively with the accused person if found guilty", the statement read in part.

"We must also encourage more female students on our campuses to speak up by creating mechanisms that protect them from victimisation.

"Provocative dressing should never be grounds for justifying assault. Institutions are free to enforce codes of conduct, dressing and decorum as they deem fit. This must also be done with respect for the constitutional rights of students.

"As a woman, mother, and Senator who serves as vice chairman of the committee on women affairs, I have continued to put the issue of sexual assault in our campuses on the front burner. We would not relent until we our educational institutions become safe spaces for the development of our girls and not a den of sexual predators", the senator added.

OAU reacts

In response to the alleged sex scandal, the management of OAU said it has set up an inquiry committee to investigate the veracity of the sexual harassment involving professor Akindele.

"The University is aware and we are setting up machinery to critically look at the issue to determine the veracity, otherwise there won’t be conclusion", the spokesman for the University, Mr. Abiodun Olanrewaju, said in a statement.

ALSO READ: Lady records sexual assault, confronts assaulter

The Senate had in 2016 prescribed a five-year jail term for lecturers sexually exploiting students.

The bill, sponsored by Ovie Omo-Agege (Labour-Delta Central) and co-sponsored by 46 other senators, sought to completely prohibit any form of sexual relationship between lecturers and their students.

Lecturers, however, protested the bill, describing it as a violation of their rights.

dimeji akinloye