In a bid to end cases of sexual violence at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), the management of the institution has suspended the employment of its lecturer, Jonathan Mbachaga, over alleged sexual misconduct with a student.
The management said Mbachaga, an Associate Professor in the institution’s Department of Theatre and Media Arts, was suspended after he was accused of engaging in sexual conduct.
To douse the tension that aroused among students and institutions’ staff, the management, through a statement made available to newsmen on Tuesday, distanced the school from any form of sexual harassment against students of the institution, just as it described it as indiscipline and tarnishing the image of the institution.
In the statement signed by the institution’s Chief Information Officer to the Vice-Chancellor, Foluso Ogunmodede, the lecturer was suspended to allow for proper investigation into the matter and to serve as a warning to other staff either still engaged or planning to engage in the act.
According to the institution, Mbachaga’s suspension came after a committee inaugurated by the institution to investigate the alleged sexual harassment established prima facie evidence against the lecturer.
The embattled lecturer was suspended on the grounds of a prima facie evidence of sexual harassment established against him by a panel set up by the institution’s Faculty of Arts, which investigated the allegation.
However, the statement further revealed that the suspension, which takes immediate effect, would pave the way for a five-member committee set up by the school’s vice-chancellor to further probe the allegation with a view to getting to the root of the allegation of sexual harassment against the embattled lecturer.
The statement said, “The Vice-Chancellor of FUOYE, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, who has zero-tolerance for indiscipline and any form of sexual harassment against students of the institution, has consequently approved the suspension of Dr. Mbachaga to allow for proper investigation into the matter.
“The VC, Prof Abayomi Fashina, has also mandated the Dean, Faculty of Arts, Prof. Tajudeen Opoola, to conduct proper investigation into another allegation of sexual harassment against another lecturer in the same department, Dr. Agofure, and submit a report in due time for necessary actions.”
