For being found prima facie liable to an alleged sexual assault, the Management of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, on Wednesday, vowed to deal with a professor of Yoruba incantations and Stylistics, Joseph Opefeyitimi.
Opefeyintimi of the department of Linguistics and African Languages was alleged to have sexually assaulted one Boluwatife Bababunmi, a student of the department on March 18, 2022.
In a statement by the Public Relations Officer of the institution, the authorities said the student petitioned the school management three days after the incident, noting that upon thorough investigation, Opefeyitimi was found prima facie liable.
The statement titled, ‘Sex Scandal: OAU Not Foot-dragging’, read in part: “Procedurally, after the receipt of the formal complaints, the first step was that the departmental committee sat on the matter and, after thorough investigation, Professor Opefeyitimi was found prima facie liable.
“Second stage was the Faculty level and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Professor Niyi Okunoye referred the matter to the anti-sexual harassment committee of the University. The committee, which also sat and clinically deliberated on this same matter, recommended appropriate disciplinary actions against professor Ayo Opefeyitimi to the University Management.
“Of course, the University administration would have to present its recommendations to the Governing Council which has the final say on the matter, considering the status of the staff involved.
“As a mark of its zero tolerance for sexual harassment, the present University Management had summarily dismissed three lecturers who had committed similar sexual offences.
“The first lecturer to be dismissed was of the department of Management and Accounting while the second one was from the department of English Language. The third one, who was given his letter of dismissal last month, was teaching in the department of International Relations.”