A dean of one of the
science-based faculties of the University of Abuja is currently under
investigation for soliciting sex to award marks to one of his female students,
Daily Trust on Sunday has learnt.
The alarms went off on the senior university lecturer after he was caught in a
sting operation at a hotel in Gwarimpa area of Abuja, where he had gone to have
an affair with the student.
A credible source in the
university told Daily Trust on Sunday that the student who was being pressed by
the faculty dean for sexual relationship, had reported the matter to the
university’s security unit as well as the police
The dean would not allow the student pass a
course he was taking unless she agreed to have sex with him, the alleged victim
told police and the university’s security.
The source added that the
security agents asked the lady to play along, which led to the professor
booking a hotel room in the highbrow Gwarimpa quarters to sleep with the
student.
“The dean was caught pants down
in the hotel room trying to have sex with the student,” the source said.
Daily Trust on Sunday learnt that
though the university community falls under the responsibility of Lugbe Police
Station, the sting operation and the arrest was handled by the police station
in Gwarimpa.
“He was taken to the police
station that night and made to give a statement,” the source added. The source
said the university was keeping the scandal under wraps which was the reason it
did not go public since.
“Very few in the university know
this has happened between the dean and his student and that is why other
details of it are not available,” said the source.
It was gathered that the incident
may have happened about four weeks ago when the students of the institution
were taking first semester examinations for the 2018/2019 academic session.
Students resumed for the second semester last
Monday after a two-week break that followed the exams. The Chief Security
Officer of the university, Ibrahim Abdullahi Buga, could not be reached as his
phone was switched off when our reporter tried to reach him yesterday.
But a source in the security
department confided in our reporter that the management of the university had
set up a committee to investigate the alleged sexual assault on the student.
The acting Information Officer of the
university, Hajiya Maryam Mohammed, while confirming the setting up of the
committee said the staff in question had been queried.
“You know the man in question has
been issued a query as a panel has been constituted to listen to him in order
to give him a fair hearing. That’s where we are right now because we have to
wait for the committee to do something about it.
So I cannot tell you anything
again until the committee finishes its work and as soon as there is anything, I
will let you know,” she added. She said the university’s new vice chancellor
was someone with zero tolerance for nonsense.
Also commenting on the alleged
act, the Federal Capital Territory police commissioner, Bala Ciroma, confirmed
that the police had received a report of an alleged sexual assault from a
female student of the institution.