The Lagos Police Command has arrested a lecturer at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Kadiri Babalola, for allegedly raping a 20-year-old undergraduate of the institution.
The Command Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, who confirmed the arrest Thursday, said the suspect will appear in court for “sexual harassment” in the coming days.
The accused, Mr Babalola, an associate professor of Botany was said to have perpetrated the act on 16 August, when the victim visited his office to resolve some issues concerning her results.
It was gathered that InclusiveSWEF reported the case to the Gender Unit of the state police command and through the OC Gender, the state CP, Idowu Owohunwa, issued a warrant of arrest for the lecturer through the state High Court and involved the Vice Chancellor of the university.
Reacting, the spokesperson for UNILAG, Adejoke Alaga-Ibraheem, said that the university was aware of an investigation involving an employee of the university.
“UNILAG Management, on August 28, received a letter from the Nigeria Police Force, inviting an employee of the University for questioning. The employee was immediately informed of the development and advised to comply.”
“While we are not yet privy to the full details of the incident that led to the arrest of the employee, we are fully aware that the investigation is ongoing and we are cooperating with security agencies to ensure that the matter is resolved in the interest of justice,” she said.
She reiterated the university’s commitment to ensuring that “justice is served.”
Nigerian tertiary institutions are faced with a high incidence of allegations of sexual harassment by lecturers.
Recall that female students of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, Cross River State, staged a protest on the campus against the Dean of the faculty, Cyril Ndifon, accused of sexual harassment.
Some of the placards carried by students with inscriptions such as, “Law students are not Bonanza, Prof. Ndifon should stop grabbing us,” “The Faculty of Law is not a brothel,” and “Ndifon must go for our sanity,” among other inscriptions.
The university authority subsequently suspended Prof. Ndifon on 17 August.
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