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November 19, 2024
The student alleged that Agbegbedia gave her poor grades after she declined his advances.
Dr Anthony Agbegbedia, a lecturer in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, who was accused of sexual harassment and reportedly failed a female student for rejecting his advances, has been promoted to the rank of Reader by the university.
In September, SaharaReporters reported that a final-year student from the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Federal University Oye-Ekiti had accused her lecturer, Anthony Agbegbedia, of failing her because she refused to submit to his sexual advances.
The student alleged that Agbegbedia gave her poor grades after she declined his advances.
She claimed that he repeatedly asked her out, and she did not consent.
According to her, during their interactions, Agbegbedia asked her to meet him in Ado-Ekiti but she said she regularly made excuses to avoid the meetings throughout her first and second semesters of 400-Level (PCs 411 and PCs 414).
She also mentioned that Agbegbedia began bothering her from the first semester of her 300-Level until she stopped responding to his messages.
She and her father eventually reported the issue to the university by submitting a letter to the Dean of the Faculty of Science and another letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Federal University Oye-Ekiti.
A source told SaharaReporters that in 2021 the management of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, suspended a lecturer in the Theatre and Media Arts Department, Dr Desen Mbachaga, over alleged sexual harassment.
Meanwhile, in a promotion letter signed by the Registrar and Secretary to the Council, Mufutau A. Ibrahim, and obtained by SaharaReporters, Dr Agbegbedia was promoted by the University Governing Council to the position of Reader in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences.
However, the promotion with an annual salary of ₦5,219,772 was confirmed on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.
The letter read, "Dear Dr Agbegbedia, I have the pleasure of informing you that the University Governing Council at its 34th Statutory Meeting of Wednesday, 6th November, 2024, approved that you be promoted to the position of Reader in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences in the University on salary of (N5,219,772) per annum; that is CONUASS 06 Step 01 with effect from 1st October, 2023.
"On behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, I congratulate you very warmly on this promotion, which is well deserved, and I hope that you will be further motivated to give your very best to the development of this University."
When SaharaReporters contacted the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the university, Engineer Kayode Ojo, to ask why Dr Agbegbedia was promoted to the position of Reader with a salary increase despite being accused of sexually harassing a female student,
He said, "I'm the Pro-Chancellor of the university. I do not run the university; I am not the Vice-Chancellor. I'm sure the Vice-Chancellor would be in a better position to answer your question.
"Well, whatever the official university decision, I'm sure they will have shared it with you, and then i don't even know what is your people's interest in the matter.
The Pro-Chancellor added, "We take issues like sexual harassment very seriously. You know, I have a daughter in university, and I wouldn’t want anyone to harass her."
"It's a no-no. But in the case whereby, you know in any case, if it's your word against mine, this is a difficult thing to do. There has to be compelling evidence. Do you know? before you can punish anyone.
"I'm sure if he has been found wanting and guilty, of course, he will be punished. No doubt about it, that's what we stand for," Ojo stated.
He said, "We stand for the protection of our children, our students, and all those people. So we're not there to cover up or to protect anybody who is irresponsible.
"We're we're trying to put a stringent policy in place now that we auto-pilot itself against any of those behaviours. You know? So our council is still very young, we are inaugurated in July.
"We're just trying to find our feet to do everything that we're supposed to do. So when we noticed a lot of infractions left right now, you know, the university is still very young," Ojo added.