Nigeria’s Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) is no stranger when it comes to sexual harassment crises. The biggest sexual harassment scandal to have ever rocked this 13-year-old institution, however, was perpetrated by Vice Chancellor Abayomi Sunday Fasina, a professor of soil science.
Until he was appointed the school’s administrator in 2021, Fasina was the school’s deputy vice-chancellor (administration) from 2017. Under his leadership, Fasina witnessed cases of university staff sexually taking advantage of students.
There were four such instances, two of which FIJ closely monitored. On June 3, 2021, FIJ reported that the school suspended Desen Mbachaga, a lecturer at the Theatre and Media Arts Department over a sexual harassment case but overlooked many other similar cases.
In November, FIJ also reported how Anthony Agbegbedia, a lecturer at the Department of Conflict Studies, deliberately failed a student because she turned down his sexual overtures. Despite much media attention, the school only slapped the erring lecturer on the wrist, warning him “for unethical behaviour” and the student was cleared for graduation after her examination scripts were remarked.
Back in 2019, Adewole Atere, a professor of criminology and former head of FUOYE’s criminology department, was suspended for having serial sexual relations with and impregnating 16-year-old Precious Azuka.
The fourth reported case involved Daniel Adeyemo, a former registrar, who was removed over sundry allegations, including sexual harassment, in 2017.
But this time around, it is Fasina who in the centre of a sexual harassment case against one of his married subordinates. His target was Folasade Adebayo, an engineer and a deputy director at the school’s Directorate of Works and Services.
WHEN DID IT BEGIN?
Documentary and audio recordings independently obtained by FIJ confirmed that Fasina began making amoral advances towards Adebayo around July 2023. It must be noted that these documents and recordings have been distributed within and outside the different layers of the university system, including the recently formed governing council, the Nigeria Police Force’s Special Fraud Unit, Ikoyi, Lagos State, and FUOYE’s Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).
FIJ informed Adebayo of the availability of this material at its disposal and requested her comments but she was reticent, only saying the matter was being handled internally. She declined to answer further questions, insisting on knowing the source of the evidence.
In one audio recording of about 40 minutes, Fasina phoned Adebayo, expressing his sexual feelings and how he appreciated an “aura” he usually felt anytime he saw the woman.
FIJ’s investigation showed that Adebayo’s duty post was at the Ikole campus before Fasina invited her to join the management team on the main campus. What Adebayo did not know was that Fasina had an ulterior motive: to actualise his sexual desire towards her.
As it would be clear soon enough, Fasina insisted that Adebayo’s ‘no’ in response to his overtures would not stop him from having his way. Even though he acknowledged that the woman was married, he did not accept her refusal.
“I have compared everybody; I can read everybody like a book. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s like one has subsumed oneself into something completely. That is how it is. You are the right person for me to confide in,” Fasina once said in one of the audio recordings.
Adebayo maintained that all things considered, particularly as married people, Christians and with their superior-subordinate work relationship, such a flirtatious request from Fasina was “just not right”.
READ ALSO: FUOYE Promotes Sex-for-Grades Lecturer Anthony Agbegbedia While Victims Hope for Justice
“Confiding in me is not a problem. Like I told you yesterday, I will be a friend you can confide in. But the other one you talked about [sexual relationship] is what I said cannot work out,” Adebayo replied.
‘I’M DYING FOR YOU — ‘EXCERPTS FROM THE CONVERSATION
Fasina: Forget about that. That’s where you and I will fight. It will be tough.
Adebayo: We cannot fight. Is it possible for us to fight? You know I am like a child to you; you are my boss, my mentor. You are like a father to me. Thankfully, my dad is no more.
Fasina to Adebayo: I am dying for you.
Fasina: So, you are the firstborn of your family?
Adebayo: Yes.
Fasina: I can now understand, hahaha. Little wonder that you are stubborn to me. I can now understand you. You want to be tough, but not in my own case. Listen, I will not agree to your toughness and I have my reasons. For one, I will never forget you for life. You will be in my memoir. I said earlier that if I correct the bursar for ten things, I will correct you only once. You have been so dear to my heart. You have never disappointed. I have considered two plus two; I have considered many things before I came to my conclusion, unless you don’t like me.
Adebayo: Oga, you know we all work together. You remember when we were all at Ikole [campus]? If I don’t like you, I will not work with you.
Fasina: When we were at Ikole, I did not cross my boundaries. People assume that because you are touchy means you are seducing them. But I have now studied you and realised that it is your natural character and it’s no big deal.
Adebayo: I grew up in the midst of males. That’s why.
Fasina: Let me tell you, I am dying for you. Thinking about you has made me sleepless these days.
Adebayo: Oga, don’t add that to it because it is not healthy.
Fasina: What you are saying is mere grammar. I said I want something and you are saying something else. You were the first to give me a birthday present. Not even my wife did that. Sade, I can never forget you. I have told you that you are 100% good in all ramifications. Nobody is perfect, but you are so good. I don’t want to leave in the sense that, as long as you are with me, there is a spirit, an aura abstract that holds me when you are with me.
Adebayo: What type of aura?
Fasina: I have observed that things work out for me when you are with me. I always get results for whatever I lay my hands upon. It means our spirits tally. You see me always fighting with the bursar.
Adebayo: You fight with me also.
Fasina: I might fight the bursar ten times and fight with you once. It means our aura tallY. For me, I don’t know…
Adebayo: All what you are saying now, it’s still… I am part of your cabinet. I am part of your management. All those ones will still work out. The aura will still be there.
Fasina: Do you know why I drafted you to join the management team?
Adebayo: No. But I have been meaning to ask. I was thinking it was because of projects and development in the school.
Fasina: Yes, that is number one. But the most important thing is that I have studied you and you are very intelligent. The point is that you are stable emotionally. Anytime I look at your face, I derive some pleasure at meetings. You know that there are some people at our meetings who don’t like you.
Fasina to Adebayo: I have agape love for you.
You know Eni [Lawrence, a deputy director at the legal services unit] used to join our meetings before. I was the one who stopped him because he misbehaved. When I brought you in, some people did not like you.
Some people say some things I cannot start to tell you. Some people did not want to agree and in fact, some people pushed against it. I asked them, “Is it because you are a woman? I resisted them. For the first time, the bursar spoke up over your case but I told him that my decision would fly.
I later invited the registrar to my house and explained to him deeply that, look, if the VC requests for something that is not bad and if a VC had done something that is bad in the past, we should be bold enough to correct it and posterity will judge us. If one has agape love, it is difficult to [do away with it].
Adebayo: I don’t think you know what I am thinking.
Fasina: What are you thinking?
Adebayo: I am just thinking that everything you said about me, I am not conscious of it. But it may be true that I have intuition about some things. What I think personally on this issue is, I just have the instinct that it is not right.
Fasina: What is not right?
Adebayo: All the things you earmarked that you need a confidant. Yes, that is not a problem. About the aura, I know you might have studied me. You know that I always look for your interest in things and whatever you say you want in terms of administration, I always work it to the end. It may not be as hastily as you want it, but I always work to make it come to pass because I will take my time to look at the pros and cons of everything. That is why most of the time, I may not deliver as hastily as you want because I would want to remove everything that could be a barrier or negative thing because swinging into action.
Fasina: I think the problem is that you are looking at yourself that the two of us are married.
Adebayo: We are married. That’s one. Two, it is not something we are supposed to do.
Fasina: I agree. Listen, marriage is by chance. If I had met you before now, do you think I could not have married you?
Adebayo: You could not have met me before now because I am so young. That will mean it would take a long time before you have children.
Fasina: Sade, just make me happy. I beg you in the name of God, make me happy. I will make you happy, you will make me happy. And things will work out fine. Things have been working out fine between the two of us.
ADEBAYO: ‘IT IS NOT RIGHT’
Fasina: It seems that my wife has observed that out of all the women working with me, she is looking at you that you are very close to me. I think so but I’m not very sure.
Adebayo: I spoke with her recently.
Fasina: She knows that you are more sensible than others.
Adebayo: I know mummy [VC’s wife] likes me but I don’t want to be close to the house too much. We talk often. We don’t have any problem. Now imagine, will it now be proper for me to do that [to her]? It is not right.
Fasina: Shut up! That’s what I did not want you to mention.
Adebayo: What I said that it will not be right for me to do that to her is even secondary. The main issue is that I am a married woman. Then, it is not right.
Fasina: And I am a married man.
Adebayo to Fasina: ‘It is not right’
Adebayo: But you are not saying it’s not right. I am now saying it is not right.
Fasina: I saw some people in America who are just relating and are there for each other. They are just helping each other.
Adebayo: You recall that I told you the other day that helping each other is not a problem.
Fasina: Listen, I know a married friend in the US who has a married lady. Any time he has a problem, she goes there and is always there for him. She gives him money sometimes. They help each other; she is always there for him and he is always there for her. The two of them are married, but you see the relationship. They share wisdom and maintain a very solid relationship.
Adebayo: If that’s it, I also do what I think I can do within my own means, even without you knowing. I told you that I have been praying for you.
FASINA: ‘I WON’T AGREE WITH YOU’
Fasina: I won’t agree.
Adebayo: That’s your final word all the time.
Fasina: I see you as someone God sent to me.
Adebayo: And that’s how I want you to see it.
Fasina: Yes, but I am just seeing it beyond how you see it. All these things you are saying are on moral grounds.
Adebayo: On moral grounds and Christian side.
Fasina to Adebayo: ‘I won’t agree with you’
Fasina: I have thought about it deeply before speaking my mind. That’s love. I do chase away some women flocking around me because I don’t have time for them. It is not as if they are not beautiful, but they are not as intelligent as you are, they are not as mature as you are. There are so many factors I have thought about.
Adebayo: Generally, you need to stay away from anything that the devil or enemies use as a loophole against you.
Fasina: When I took some time out of work, the stress went away. Everything is not fun. But if you have someone you can play with, talk with and confide in. It is stress that kills some people. I like you so much. If I see you, I will be happy. That makes the difference and it has been helping me. That’s one of the reasons why I brought you to the management [level]. That if I see you, I know this is for me if others are not there.
Adebayo: I did not know that you were on that floor until we celebrated independence…
Adebayo: Yes.
Fasina: If I was desperate, I would be coming to your room. But there was no reason for that.
Adebayo: I would not open the door.
Fasina: I would use disappearing juju to enter
Adebayo: I would also use disappearing juju to run away.
Fasina: When you were sick, I was sick, too. I was praying to God to preserve your life for me. I wanted to come and visit you at home, but you declined. It was at that time you were supposed to have seen the signs, but you did not see it.
Adebayo: I was not conscious of it.
Fasina: I am getting results through you. Why should I not pray for you? You will be going higher in Jesus’ name. I don’t regret it when I do most things. Sade, I don’t regret it. I would have made up my mind on something, and in most cases, 99.9%, God directs me to do it. I don’t just do it. I have a spirit that I would ‘the God is leading me.’ And God has always shown me his mercies and grace. Greater grace. I believe that God will help me. Please, I am just telling you. I am still at the same spot. I have not changed. I know that you are tough. You are stubborn. But God will change your mind for me.
FASINA’S AIDE: “IT IS AN ADULTERATED AUDIO RECORDED WITHOUT VC’S CONSENT”
FIJ spoke with Aladejobi Adedayo Sobowale, a lecturer and special adviser to Vice Chancellor Fasina, on January 2. He described the audio clip as an “adulterated” recording.
Adedayo also stated that the police had investigated the case, asking if FIJ had the power to re-investigate a case already investigated by the police.
“The only body that is assigned to investigate has investigated. Try and get to the Special Fraud Unit in Ikoyi and ask them if this matter has been investigated and if there is any report on it,” he said.
“The lady in question has gone to the police and written her statement without her husband seated beside her. And the vice-chancellor has also gone there to write. Now, are you assuming the position of the Nigeria Police Force? Or are you saying the police did not do what is right?
“You can confirm from the police. But if there is an ulterior motive, if there is a malicious grouse, if you are working to achieve an aim of defamation, then you can begin to say the Nigerian police are no longer relevant in Nigeria. If it is pure investigative journalism, the police have investigated it.
“You have an audio with you, if it is adulterated or not. There is no way you will do your job properly and will not call me to establish a blackmail. There is information I am not giving you now. Be aware that the adulterated audio being circulated was recorded by a woman against her boss without his consent and the audio has been in circulation since 2023.”
When asked what informed his conclusion that the recording had been adulterated, Sobowale directed FIJ to the police.
Fasina responded to FIJ’s request for comments through Oluwatosin Adesioye, a lawyer at the chambers of Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, on January 2. Similar to Sobowale’s response, the lawyer claimed the police had conclusively investigated the case and absolved Fasina of any wrongdoing.
“Whereas it is without cavil that the police report is conclusive of these allegations, we note for the record that the police did not leave any stone unturned as the alleged victim of sexual harassment was allowed to present all evidence at her disposal from which it was deduced by the police that there ‘was NOT A SEXUAL HARASSMENT’ as contained in the police report,” Adesioye’s letter read in part.
