Sex for Grades: Ex-UNIBEN female students reject panel date over security fears

A group under the aegis of the University of Benin English and Literary Students and Alumni Facebook group, has rejected the date by a University of Benin panel to interview former students alleging sexual harassment against lecturers at the Department of English and Literary Studies.

The group, in a petition co-signed by its convener Obaigbo Aoiri and scribe Toyin Adepoju and made available to The Nation yesterday, expressed concern over “issues of security”, while urging the panel to consider using Skype or Whatsapp platforms to “eliminate questions of security.”

He said the fears by former students over possible acts of vengeance by their accusers or supporters stemmed from open threats during debates on the petition.

Obaigbo alleged that secret cult groups supporting one of the lecturers “openly threatened” victims during debates on the petition.

His words,” These fears are validated by open threats invoking secret cult affiliations in support of one of the accused lecturers during debates on the petition on the Facebook platform of the group.”

According to the group, the killing last year and a daylight attack on a student in open view of a busy faculty reinforce these developments.

The group said,” On account of these fears, we humbly request the university consider interviewing the students making the allegations through such remote and easily accessible communication facilities like Skype or preferably WhatsApp, which can be accessed as video and voice and recorded.”