Dear Sir,
The issue of intimate harassment and
misconduct by lecturers in Nigerian
universities has always been reoccurring in
some of our universities and many lecturers
have been found culpable in this ignoble act
to the detriment of students. So many
students have been victims of lecturers'
escapades and we can no longer keep quiet
over this issue that has ruined the lives of
many students who have been our
classmates or school mates as the case may
be.
At the Lagos State University (LASU ), Ojo,
we have so many dedicated lecturers who
take their job seriously and discharge their
duties accordingly. But there are those who
capitalise in sexually harassing students they
are meant to teach. At the Faculty of Law in
LASU, the Sub-Dean of the faculty, Mr A. O.
Ogunseye is one lecturer who has been
known to be involved in the victimisation of
students and intimate harassment of girls.
Your Excellency, I want to bring your
attention to this issue and the attention of
Nigerians to what we are passing through in
the hands of Mr Ogunseye because we are
tired of this extortion, victimisation and
intimate harassment by him.
He has been doing this for a long time and
for over five years without any form of
reprimand from the school management
thereby causing many students grief, pain
and delays in their academic pursuit. The
Vice-Chancellor of LASU, Professor John
Oladapo Obafunwa is a man of integrity and I
believe that if he is aware of this act, he will
not hesitate to deal with such lecturer
accordingly. Mr Ogunseye has committed so
many atrocities against we students in the
Faculty of Law and I think it is time to let you
and the whole world know that we have
suffered enough in silence.
He gives many girls 5 points after taking
them to bed and many other brilliant
students who deserve to have 5 or 4 points
he would deny them this and would give
them 1 or 2 points at most, even when it is
glaring that these academically sound
students deserve more than what he gave
them. He collects huge amount of money
from students in order to falsify and upgrade
their results for them. Recently, he told a girl
doing her undergraduate programme in Law
and who is supposed to graduate with a third
class degree to pay him one hundred and
fifty thousand naira in order for him to
upgrade her grade to second class upper. But
when the girl told him she didn't have the
money, he advised her to sell her blackberry
phone in order to bring the money to him. He
is obsessed with money and sex and has
slept with so many girls in the Faculty of Law
in order to give them marks they don't merit
and many of them have suffered too much in
his hands.
He also collects two hundred and fifty
thousand naira from some students doing
their Masters in Law (LL.M) programmes in
order to upgrade their score to a higher score
or grade which they don't merit. Every year,
Mr Ogunseye abandons his official duty and
travels abroad and spends up to two months
without leave or any approval from the
faculty and he would assign his course to
junior lecturers who are not competent to
handle the course. His stock in trade is to
continually extort money from students and
he has agents who usually solicit on his
behalf for other students to pay him money
for marks. As a result of his dishonourable
role in upgrading scores for students, the
Dean of the Faculty of Law, Dr Olatokunbo
Obadina had to change the password of the
portal used by lecturers in the Faculty of Law
for uploading students' results so that Mr
Ogunseye will not have access to carry out
his despicable acts.
Mr Ogunseye was my project supervisor and
for over four months he kept tossing me up
and down and refused to approve my project
even after collecting over ten thousand naira
from me and despite all the efforts I put in
researching, writing, re-writing and typing the
project and all the money I spent in doing
this. Later when I discovered he was not
ready to approve my project and was only
interested in continuing to extort money from
me, I had to apply for another project
supervisor, Barrister Gbenga Ojo, who
supervised my project and approved it
without delay and without collecting any
money from me. But I had to write another
project for Barrister Ojo since his own
department is different from that of Mr
Ogunseye.
It is so frustating the type of pain, both
emotional and psychological, which Mr
Ogunseye has put many students through.
By his conduct, he is a disgrace to the
Faculty of Law and the Lagos State
University as a whole. People like this should
not be entrusted with positions of authority
because they end up abusing their power
and corrupting the minds of young and
upcoming students and jeopardising the
future of many of them.
I hereby call on you sir, as the Visitor to the
Lagos State University, to institute a proper
and thorough investigation into this issue of
intimate harassment, intimidation,
victimisation, dereliction of duty and
extortion by Mr Ogunseye, the Sub-Dean of
the faculty of Law and if found culpable, he
should be dealt with accordingly.
We recall that some lecturers were sacked
recently by the University of Benin for these
same issues of intimate harassment and
extortion of students. Any lecturer who
engages in this dishonourable behaviour
does not deserve to be a lecturer and should
be shown the way out of the university
system to avoid bringing down the image of
the university.
I hereby call on the Nigerian media to also
investigate this matter discreetly using their
tool of investigative journalism and I want
the media to come to LASU Faculty of Law
and interview many students on this issue
especially girls who have been sexually
harassed and abused on several occasions
by Mr Ogunseye. This matter must not be
swept under the carpet by the Lagos State
government, the media and all well meaning
Nigerians because enough is enough. We
have suffered enough and we can no longer
keep quiet in the face of flagrant abuses and
misconduct by our own lecturers who should
be role models to the youths.
It is my hope that this letter will be given
adequate publicity by the media to let
Nigerians know what we are passing through
in LASU in the hands of randy lecturers even
after the school fees were increased to a
whooping two hundred and fifty thousand
naira per student.
From: Adeshina Johnson.
Faculty of Law, LASU, Lagos.
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