The University of Abuja has set up an 8-man committee to investigate allegations of falsification of examination records and sexual harassment against the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Professor A. A. Adeniji, made by one Miss Duru Deborah, also a student of the Faculty of Agriculture.
A memo to that effect which was issued on August 9, 2019, and obtained by Daily Trust on Sunday, came two weeks after an official of the institution said a committee had been set up to investigate the incident. The eight member committee is expected to submit its reports to the Vice Chancellor of the university within 10 days from the day the memo was issued.
The committee consists of three professors, three PhD holders (senior lecturers) representative of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) University of Abuja branch and a representative of the Students Union Government (SUG) of the institution.
The panel, in carrying out its duties, is expected to ‘‘peruse the security report on the allegations against Professor Adeniji, the query earlier issued to the professor and his response.”
It would be recalled that the lecturer had earlier been issued a query after he was caught pants down during a sting operation by policemen of the Gwarinpa police station.
Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that following threat by the lecturer that the student, with registration number: 16211546, would not pass a course he was taking unless she gave in to his sexual demands, she reported the matter to security operatives, who organised a sting operation. The sting operation was carried out by men of the Gwarinpa police station, where the professor was caught pants down in a hotel room in the highbrow estate of the Federal Capital Territory.
Speaking on the latest development, The Assistant Registrar and Information Officer of University of Abuja, Maryam Mohammed, said Professor Adeniji has been placed on suspension over the issue.
She said the university suspended him because the issue was considered serious and that this is the first time such a thing is happening in the university.
She said until the committee set up by the university management to investigate the issue submits its report, the institution cannot speak on it.
Though the incident occurred about four weeks ago when the students of the institution were taking first semester examinations for the 2018/2019 academic session, it has not been made public, as only a few people are aware of it. A source who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday on condition of anonymity claimed the institution was working hard to keep the scandal away from the public.
