ALLEGED RAPE: Ex-Unilag lecturer insists it was consensual sex

A former lecturer at the University of Lagos, Afeez Baruwa, who was accused of raping a 17-year-old admission seeker (name withheld) on Friday told the court that he had consensual sexual intercourse with the teenager.

While testifying before an Ikeja High Court, the lecturer gave an account of events on July 23, 2015, when he was alleged to have raped the teenager.

Led in evidence by his counsel, Olanrewaju Ajanaku, Baruwa described himself as a community leader at Abesan, Lagos, and an academic who worked as a project supervisor at the Distant Learning Institution (DLI) of the university from 2010 to 2015.

During his five-hour testimony, he said the father of the complainant, who lives in the same community with him (the lecturer) and was an acquaintance, had approached him to aid his daughter to gain admission into the institution.

Baruwa said that in the early hours of July 23, 2015, the man dropped off the teenager at his home and they both left for university for him to resume work and also to help her with admission.

“We arrived Unilag at 6.05a.m., and we went down to my friend’s office where I use as my study room as well as supervision contact.

“In the office, we were talking generally; then I offered her tea or coffee, she settled for coffee and she made it for herself. All this while, the door of the office was open and there was no way I could put on the air conditioner.

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“She told me that as a result of the coffee, she was feeling hot and that I would need to shut the door. I responded that it was too early in the morning (before 7a.m.) for us to be alone.

“She told me to lock the door that after all, she was mature enough, and I did. After that, she picked up a textbook to read. She sat on a single chair while I sat on a three-seat chair.”

The former lecturer said he fell asleep but was woken up after about 20 minutes by the complainant who, he claimed, was fondling him.

“Her hands were all over me and I woke up and I looked at her. By then, she had already removed the buttons of her blouse and I did suck her breasts.

“She said she needed to pull her white shirt so that it will not be stained and she had her jeans trousers on. We were romancing each other in that position, my lord.

“She told me that she wanted me to have sex with her and I replied that there was no way I could practise unsafe sex with her; this was some minutes past 7a.m.

“She sucked my penis and I thereafter released, and around that time, one of my students came in, but we had dressed up,” Baruwa said.

He said after the sexual contact, he, the complainant and the student went to the Commercial Center in the institution to make enquiries about her eligibility to study mass communication with her UTME score of 211.

According to him, they got information that the score did not qualify her to write post UTME, and he advised her to apply to study English with the score.

He said after they left the Commercial Center, the teenager went to see some friends and came to his office later to say farewell to him and thank him for his efforts in helping her to seek admission.

Baruwa continued, “She offered to give me a hug as a sign of appreciation and I obliged her, my lord. When we hugged, she moved her hands toward my penis. This was a few minutes after 10a.m.”

“She threatened to shout and create a scene if I refuse to have sex with her and I told her like I did early in the morning that there was no way that I could have unsafe sex with her and she told me to look for a condom.

He claimed he went on to lock the door and then put on a condom. “When I turned back to meet her, she had already removed her jean trousers; that was how we had sex. About 10 to 15 minutes later, she told me that she was okay.

Baruwa denied raping the complainant and said he had known her before she was introduced to him by her father.

He also claimed that it was a set up by the complainant’s father because he contested against her father for the Chairmanship of Abesan Community Development Association, which Baruwa won.

However, while cross-examining the defendant, Y. G. Oshoala, a Deputy Director in the state Directorate of Public Prosecution, disputed Baruwa’s claim of innocence.

Oshoala submitted that a lot of Baruwa’s claims were not reflected in his statements to the police.

Following Baruwa’s cross-examination, Ajanaku informed the court that the former lecturer would be the sole defence witness, adding that the defence would consequently close its case.

Justice Josephine Oyefeso adjourned the case until Oct. 10, for adoption of final written addresses.

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