A senior lecturer in the Department of English and Literature, Faculty of Arts, University of Benin has been accused of raping a female student in his office.
The 400-level student was said to have gone to the lecturer’s office to submit her final year project when she was allegedly raped and locked in the office for several hours.
The PUNCH gathered that the incident occurred on October 5, but became public knowledge when a video purportedly recorded when the lecturer was begging for forgiveness went viral.
A course mate of the female student told The PUNCH that the video and the news of the alleged rape was first circulated on the class WhatsApp platform.
The source said, “The news of the incident was first reported on our class WhatsApp group. A video was posted which showed the lecturer pleading for forgiveness and regretting his action.
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“The lady was able to contact an unnamed friend, who with UNIBEN’s security operatives, rescued her. The lecturer was arrested by UNIBEN’s security officials, taken to the university’s administrative block and questioned.”
The PUNCH also reached out to one of the victim’s friend on phone but she declined to comment on the matter and refused to give out the number of her friend who was allegedly raped.
Another source also stated that the Student Union led by Osaze Forster had assured them that the matter would not be swept under the carpet.
When the lecturer was contacted on Wednesday, his phone was busy throughout and he did not respond to a test message sent to his line.
UNIBEN spokesperson, Dr Benedicta Ehanire, was contacted for the university’s official reaction, but she had not responded at press time.
PUNCH
