A lecturer of the Department of Mass Communication, Akindele Omotosho, has dragged the Cre of Learning, Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) into sexual harassment list.
The gentle Omotoso was first accused by a lady who is being kept anonymous.
According to the Foundation for Investigative Journalists (FIJ), Mr Akindele Omotosho was alleged to have kissed the female student in his office, moments after she assisted him in carrying his bag from his car to the office on April 7.
Perpetual Mbanefo (not real name), the victim, who is a second-year student of the department, told FIJ that she felt violated after the incident.
She also said she was able to flee the lecturer’s office before things got out of hand.
“On that Thursday, he saw me and asked me to help him carry his bag to his office on the second floor of the department”, she said.
“We both carried stuff from his car to his office, but after reaching there, he told me to go get something else from the car.
“When I came back, he just grabbed me and kissed me on the lips. It lasted for about two seconds.”
According to Mbanefo, since the incident, the lecturer has neither spoken to her about it nor apologised.
When FIJ contacted Omotosho for comments on the allegation, he allegedly resorted to verbal abuse.
“Are you mad ni? Who trained you to be a journalist? Stop texting me or I will report you and your number. Bastard!” he allegedly said.
Other sources who spoke on condition of anonymity, told FIJ that the lecturer is notorious for harassing female students on campus. They added that he would always promise them academic favours in exchange for illicit affairs.
Some of his victims said they were too scared back then to turn down Omotosho’s advances for fear of victimization and attack on their academic life.
One Suliat Adisa (name altered to protect identity) said that the lecturer made several advances at her in 2020. She said the period coincided with when she just got proposed to by her husband. Adisa also claimed she was nursing a child when the events occurred.
“One of my friends told me he was always making sexual advances towards her, but I did not initially believe,” Adisa said.
“One day, I went to his office to collect my departmental souvenir, that was when he started ‘toasting me’.
“I told him I was engaged and had a daughter. He said I was lying. The following week, I had to bring my daughter to school so he could see her. Despite all the proofs I showed him, Omotosho said they all don’t mean a thing. He finished by saying that I am just engaged and not yet married.”
Adisa also said that despite choosing to never return to the lecturer’s office again, he would continue to send her text messages.
“In those messages, he would say how he wished he could just have me once,” Adisa said.
The former student also added that she would constantly delete the messages to prevent her husband from finding out about how he had been harassing her.
“After I wrote his exam, I was privileged to see my result. I had 83/100 in the exam, but he gave me a D,” Adisa said.
“Later he asked whether I had seen my result. In response, I ‘prayed’ for him, saying his children be rewarded in multiple folds because of how he had messed up my result.”
HE KISSED ME TOO AND TEXTED AN APOLOGY
Caroline Maduagwu (not real name) was convinced Omotosho would help with her academic challenges while she was still a student of the department. At the time, the lecturer was also her course adviser.
However, the conviction she had would soon vanish when the lecturer demanded to have a ‘relationship’ with her. He would also constantly ask her to come ‘spend time’ with him at a lodge.
“One day, he invited me to his office and kissed me. He was expecting me to come again the next day, but, I decided not to show up,” said Maduagwu in a chat with FIJ.
“He also made mention of him lodging around the school premises, saying I could always come around so as to spend time with him. I even told all my friends about his incessant advances. He would call me at night and ask me to say yes to him.
“One night one of my roommates overheard when he threatened me on the phone saying, ‘I won’t force you to date me, but I’m sure you’ll come back begging!.”
A third victim told FIJ that she was victimized by the same lecturer all through her years at the institution as a student.
According to her, Omotosho instructed a male course mate to assist him in booking accommodation at a lodge, so he could have a ‘private moment’ with her. She claimed she was in her final year when the incident happened.
“He had the guts to tell someone to assist him in getting a room so that he could invite me over! To come and do what? Thank God the guy knew I was crazy and decided not to tell me until after our results came out,” the former student said.
“That man showed me hate for years, and then, just when I am in my final semester, he now wants to sleep with me? He must be mad!”
More sources told FIJ they were always scared to go to Omotosho’s office, and would sometimes claim they were dating an executive in the students’ association, in a bid to stop him from further harassments.
FIJ approached Omotosho again for comments, but he had not responded at press time.
It has also been alleged that, just like Omotosho, some other lecturers of the institution are also in the habit of making sexual advances at students. Some of them have been accused of attempted rape, groping and results manipulation.
