The Taming of a Sexual Abuser

The Taming of a Sexual Abuser

Sexual harassment is a problem that has haunted female students of institutions of higher learning for a long time now. Many female undergraduates have had to suffer unjust failure of courses because of their refusal to yield to the amorous advances of morally bankrupt lecturers. Those lecturers are so desperately wicked that they threaten the female students with failure of their courses if they refuse to have sexual relations with them. And they make good their threats should any of their targets prove elusive. The lecturers believe that their position in the institutions confers on them the power to mess around with any female student offering their courses, who catches their lewd fancy. They grossly abuse the privilege of being lecturers, using it to satisfy their lustful desires.

Some of these lecturers are old enough to father their victims, but this fact does not change their rotten mentality. And as a result of their evil overtures and punishment meted out to students who would not co-operate with them, many female students have been frustrated out of the universities and other institutions of higher learning, while many others have had to give up their good morals in a desperate bid to graduate.

But one female undergraduate of the Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, penultimate week, refused to throw her integrity to the dustbin just to satisfy the lust of a wicked old lecturer. She intends to graduate alright, but in a more dignifying manner than her other fellows who had graduated by dancing to the tunes of immoral lecturers.

Judith Okosun, a 400 level Electrical/Electronic Engineering student of the university had suffered sexual harassment in the hands of one of her lecturers, named Peter Otubu for years before she decided she had had enough and took steps to free herself. Otubu, who allegedly specialised in threatening female students with carry-overs in his engineering course, had failed Judith twice, for refusing to yield to his request to sleep with her. This randy lecturer, said to be in his late 50s, would still not let Judith be, as he continued to pressurise her, threatening to fail her the third time if she would not play ball.

Judith, out of frustration and desperation, quickly worked out a plan and decided to play along with the lecturer while still determined not to give in to his sexual pressure. She told the lecturer she had agreed to his request, so long as he would pass her afterwards. The elated lecturer, believing her new disposition, went ahead to suggest a hotel where the sexual intercourse would take place, but Judith said she preferred them to meet at her apartment where she would be more comfortable. Judith, who lives off campus, further convinced the lecturer by saying that the other students staying in the same compound with her had travelled having concluded their first semester examinations.

The randy lecturer, not sensing any foul play, agreed to the student’s suggestion, and subsequently drove to her house on the appointed day. Unknown to him, however, Judith had arranged with her friends in the other rooms to remain indoors at the time the lecturer was being expected, to give the impression that they had truly travelled. They hatched a plan which would unfold when the lecturer arrived, and everyone was ready to play her part in the drama.

So, Otubu arrived, oblivious of the fact that he was walking into a set-up. He entered Judith’s room, feeling great that at last, he was going to feast on his very stubborn prey. He removed his clothes in readiness for action, and at that point, the drama began. Judith ran out of the room with the lecturer’s clothes, shouting for the neighbours whom she had pre-informed to come over. The girls immediately rushed into Judith’s room, and gave the shameless lecturer the greatest humiliation of his life. They stripped him naked, and did all sorts of things to him including playing with his genitals, jesting and hurling unprintable insults at him. They also asked him to ‘settle’ them, and made him sign a cheque for N100, 000 in Judith’s name. And to add salt to Otubu’s injury, the students had the whole drama recorded on video, and clips of the video are said to be circulating on the campus and its environs presently.

Virtually all the students with sophisticated phones have the clips, while some others have them in their laptops. The video clips have even been posted on Facebook, according to a newspaper report. The clips are said to reveal the lecturer, who is also a Catholic Knight, obeying the students’ command to remove his pants. All his pleas fell on deaf ears as they persistently humiliated him. While the drama lasted, the news filtered to the other lecturers, some of who rushed to the scene to rescue their beleaguered colleague.

After being rescued by his colleagues, the disgraced lecturer was said to have headed for the police station to file a report, alleging that the students kidnapped him. Consequently, the police stormed Judith’s residence and arrested all the girls. The university authorities, who said they were yet to receive any petition from Judith regarding the sexual harassment, were said to have intervened by effecting the release of the students.

A staff of the institution, while commenting on the issue, said both the student and the lecturer would face the music after a proper investigation by the university authorities. The staff, a technologist, opined that they both brought the name of the school to disrepute, saying the student breached her matriculation oath aside from forcing the lecturer to sign a cheque. As for the students of the university, some applauded Judith’s action while others upbraided her, saying she went too far in dealing with the lecturer.

WOMANHOOD praises Judith for her wisdom and courage, as well as her refusal to allow that filthy-minded lecturer have his way with her. The girls did well to have thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated him the way they did. He deserved every treatment he got for betraying the trust of the students, their parents and the university authorities in him. He was employed to teach the students, not to defile them and make their lives miserable by failing them unjustly and blackmailing them to satisfy his lust.

The mob girls succeeded in sending the right signal to the likes of Otubu, who are so shameless as to see nothing wrong in undressing before girls young enough to be their daughters. Even lecturers who are not as old as Otubu have no right to blackmail female students into sleeping with them, or deliberately fail the girls who turn them down the way many lecturers now do. These are the lecturers that compromise our educational standard in this country, graduating half-baked students who satisfy their sexual or pecuniary desires. They should mind their lecturing business and leave the girls alone. That way, they will command the respect of the students that decent lecturers deserve, and the girls will be able to accomplish their academic mission on the campuses unhindered, thus saving the nation the agony of contending with mediocre graduates.

Those who disapproved of Judith’s action would have preferred that she reported the matter to the school authorities. But that would only be a better option if she would get a fair hearing and justice would prevail. She might have considered that option and come to the conclusion that it would be Otubu’s word against hers. The lecturer would deny such allegation and she would have no proof to support her claim. Unless of course, the authorities would cause her answer sheets to be re-marked by another lecturer, but the outcome of such is not always reliable because of the solidarity among lecturers. There is every tendency that any other lecturer saddled with the responsibility of re-marking her answer sheets would favour his colleague. Who will be able to tell if he is also in the habit of blackmailing female students to sleep with him? These are issues to consider before crucifying Judith for going that far to solve her problem.

The only way to obtain proof of that kind of victimisation by a lecturer is for the student to hide a small tape recorder in her handbag or put her mobile phone on voice recorder while heading for the lecturer’s office. The tape recorder would be set to record the conversation between her and the lecturer before she enters the office. Inside the office, she would initiate a discussion on the sexual harassment and victimisation that the man is making her suffer so she can have everything on tape or on her phone. Then she would proceed to report the lecturer to the school authorities, armed with the evidence of her allegation. But that idea might not have occurred to Judith, which was why she suffered the lecturer’s victimisation twice. Any girl who would adopt this method to free herself from such unfair treatment by lecturers must deliberately call the lecturer by his name during the conversation at least once, so he would not claim that the voice on tape or on the phone is not his. If such lecturer is addressed by his name (i.e. Mr., Dr. or Professor …), and he responds to whatever the student says, it will provide her with the required proof to nail him.

Having said that, I must also point out the fact that many female undergraduates encourage the lecturers to sexually harass them by the way they dress. Indecent exposures of their bodies cannot be resisted by some lecturers, and this prompts them to harass the girls for sex. To eliminate sexual harassment from our institutions of higher learning, female students must learn to dress decently, wearing clothes that cover the sensitive parts of their bodies. Lecturers, on the other hand, must grow up and avoid falling into temptations thrown at them by the girls. Authorities of such institutions are also enjoined to come up with a dress code that will inculcate the culture of decent dressing in their female students.

The beauty of the AAU, Ekpoma episode, however, is that no lecturer in that university will henceforth be able to trust any girl who agrees to his sexual advances. And so, that will discourage them from their immoral pastime. Even if the girls seduce them, they will think twice before falling for it.

By Nike Oluwole.

(First published on August 6, 2010)