UNILAG RAISES PANEL OVER LECTURER'S RAPE SCANDAL

Authorities of the University of Lagos have set up a four-man investigative team to look into the alleged rape scandal rocking the institution.

The Head of the Information Unit of the university, Mr. Olagoke Oke, made this known to our correspondent on Tuesday.

According to him, the Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. G.O. Babawale, is the head of the panel, while the Secretary is O. Olasunmade of the Quality Assurance & Servicom Unit of the university.

Other members are an Associate Prof. of Law, Dr. A. Sanni, and a lecturer in the Department of Creative Arts, Dr. A. Layiowola.

The terms of reference of the panel, Oke said, included investigating the remote and immediate causes of the matter and the involvement of the Faculty of Business Administration/Distance Learning Institute.

The panel, according to him, has three weeks to complete its assignment.

A 42-year-old lecturer, Dr. Akin Baruwa, reportedly raped an 18-year-old admission seeker (name withheld) in the school on July 23, 2015.

Meanwhile, the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, Prof. Rasheed Ojikutu, currently in Kenya for a conference, insisted on Tuesday that the suspect was not a member of staff of the university.

Ojikutu, in an online correspondence to our reporter, said, “I can tell you emphatically that the alleged offender, Mr. Akin Baruwa, is not an employee (teaching or non-teaching staff) of the faculty. He is neither a full time nor a part-time member of staff of any of the departments in my faculty.

“The offence in question is so disgusting and unspeakable that adding impersonation to it makes it more grievous. There is no question of denial here because individuals must answer for their undesirable deeds and conducts in the society. Therefore, we would have owned up to his affiliation to our faculty, if he had been one of us. Any student who claimed to know him as a teacher is certainly not a student of the faculty.”

The leadership of the university on Sunday had disowned Baruwa, claiming that he was not an employee of the institution.

In a related development, Oke has warned prospective post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation candidates to discountenance a text message urging them to pay N2, 000 administrative fees for the exercise.

Oke, who said the message was the handiwork of fraudsters, noted that security operatives had already arrested a suspect in connection with the misdeed.

The post-UTME will hold in the school on Wednesday, (today).

Punch