September 08, (THEWILL) – The Governing Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, has sacked another lecturer of the institution, found guilty of sexual harassment against a female student.
The institution in a statement issued by its Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, said the decision to dismiss Dr. Adebayo Mosobalaje of the Department of English Language in the Faculty of Arts was taken by the University Council at its last sitting on Monday, September 6, 2021.
“Having exhaustively deliberated on the report of the Joint Committee of Council and Senate, which investigated the case of sexual harassment against Dr Mosobalaje, the University Council, unambiguously declared its zero tolerance to sexual harassment in any form or guise and, accordingly, applied the appropriate university sanctions for such an offence as contained in the University regulation”, the statement read in part.
Recall that the management had dismissed one of its lecturers, Prof. Richard Akindele, over sexual harassment of a student.
Following the leaked audio recording, which exposed Akindele, seeking sex from a female student for a pass in an examination, the professor of Accounting at the time, was sacked by the university and then sentenced to 24 months in prison after litigation.
In this latest incident, Mosobolaje, who was a Senior Lecturer at the Department, allegedly requested a date with one of her female students, Rachael Momoh, before he could supervise and grade her project work.
The student was said to have visited Mosobalaje’s office for further instructions on her final year project work, but the lecturer allegedly requested a date with her.
It was gathered that sometime in 2017, the female student had recorded her conversations with the randy lecturer before she reportedly submitted them at the university’s gender unit as evidence of the allegation of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Eyitope Ogunbodede, has reiterated the commitment of his administration to uphold the “zero-tolerance policy” for sexual harassment and other social vices.
The University Council, chaired by Owelle Oscar Udoji has also pledged to support policies that promote mutual co-existence between all the members of the university community.
