Sex-for-mark: Student, Monica Osagie, opens up

Ms Monica Osagie, the student at the centre of the sex-for-mark scandal rocking the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, has opened up to defend her decision to record her telephone conversation with her lecturer, Prof Richard Akindele.

Prof. Akindele was said to have demanded five sessions of sex in exchange of exam marks.

As a result of report presented by the panel set up by the school to investigate the matter, Prof Akindele has been asked to proceed on an indefinite suspension.

According to the panel report, only the embattled lecturer honoured its invitation while the lady neither showed up before the panel to defend her case nor wrote a formal complaint to the institution to defend the leaked audio.

Speaking through the founder, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, Monica who gave the activist the mandate to speak for her on the matter said she hasn’t done anything wrong and is unapologetic about what she had done.

She said, “I think society should focus on what really happened, and whether such happens in higher institutions of learning and not about what she did.”

Afolabi claimed that the university did not at any point invite Miss Osagie to face the panel. She challenged the university to bring evidence that she was formally invited by any means to appear before the panel.
“Before the matter went viral, the university was aware of it and they did not do anything. If the case did not go viral, the university probably would have not done anything and it would have been swept under the carpet.
“I think that we should focus more on whether the act of that professor amounts to sexual harassment, whether it was a breach of the school’s code of conduct, whether it was a breach of terms of contract for lecturers or whether he abused the relationship that should exist between lecturers and students.
“Let the university do what they are supposed to do by giving her proper invitation. They have all her records because she is their student. The panel has never invited her, so when the panel invites her today, she would come.

“she didn’t release the audio. She got the evidence and it was given to one or two people when she was seeking for help. So definitely one of them released the audio, and she cannot be blamed for it.”

Asked whether Miss Osagie has been threatened, Afolabi stated that there has not been any threat made against her, “We are not comfortable with the university saying they invited her when they didn’t invite her. Her name is already out, the whole world is aware so we cannot say because of security and safety, we won’t allow the truth to prevail.”