Authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, have dismissed Professor Richard Akindele, the lecturer who was involved in a sex-for-marks scandal with a postgraduate student of the institution, identified as Monica Osagie.
Announcing the dismissal of Akindele at a press conferene, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of OAU, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede said the development was the outcome of the Governing Council’s decision over the sexual misconduct, which trended on social media a few months back.
Ogunbodede, who read a prepared statement endorsed by the OAU Governing Council said “around 7th of April, 2018 or thereabout, there was an audio conversation between a man and a lady which was sensationally trending on social media because of its explicit sexual tone.”
According to him, “after a thorough investigation, it was discovered that the said audio conversation was between a lecturer and student of our university who were later identified to be Professor Richard Akindele and Ms Monica Osagie. To save the image of the university and to unravel the circumstances that surrounded the saga, the university set up a committee and mandated it to submit its report within a week.”
“Last Thursday, 14th of June, 2018, the University Senate considered the committee’s findings that Professor Akindele had an inappropriate relationship with the student, Miss Osagie. This was established through their conversation in the audio recordings, his reply to query, the oral evidence and the printed WhatsApp conversations tendered before the committee.”
Akindele was a professor in the Department of Management and Accounting.
Following the sack of the randy lecturer of OAU, parents and students of higher institutions in Nigeria have called on the authority of the Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, Ile-Ife, to immediately prosecute the sacked lecturer of the institution, Professor Richard Akindele.
The National President of Parent-Teacher Association of Nigeria (PTAN), Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, said OAU has done well for sacking the lecturer in order to serve as punishment to him as well as a deterrene to other lecturers who may be nurturing similar habit.
“But the university should not hesitate to prosecute him in a court of competent jurisdiction in order to face the full wrath of the law,” he added.
Haruna, however, urged universities across the country to constitute Parent-Forum and make them active so as to be able to monitor closely the activities of their children in relations to the happenings in schools.
On his part, the National President, National Association of Nigerian Students, (NANS), Mr. Aruna Kadiri, also said, while he advocated the prosecution of the sacked lecturer, he commended the management of OAU for the action taken.
He said it was a bold step that would greatly save the image of the university.
He said the management knew that NANS as a body had been watching the entire investigation processes with keen interest and therefore had no option than to allow justice to prevail on the matter.
According to him, NANS had on several times warned the management that it must not sweep the matter under the carpet as doing so would have made the entire students come hard on the university.
“So, what OAU has done on this matter is well commendable and NANS appreciates it as a union. It will serve as a warning to every other lecturer that they cannot just be harassing our ladies in any form,” he said.
He, however, said that female students dressed indecently as usually claims by some male lecturers were not a ticket for such a student to be sexually harassed, noting that teachers are to impart not only academic knowledge on students but also moral education.