Authorities of Ambrose Alli University (AAU), Ekpoma, Edo State, yesterday said it has suspended the chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), AAU chapter, Prof. Monday Igbafen, for alleged sexual harassment.

The spokesman, Edward Aihevba, said the suspension followed the arraignment of the don before the Senior Staff Disciplinary Committee (SSDC) on allegations of sexual harassment and marks for sex. Igbafen, who dismissed the allegations, said the suspension was part of a grand plan to intimidate ASUU chapter of the university, insisting that he would expose the vice chancellor, Prof. Ignatius Onimawo, for blackmailing him. He described the VC as a desperate man on a mission to ground the institution.

Igbafen said several attempts by the VC to overrule the decisions of the union had been resisted under his leadership, hence the blackmail. Describing himself as the target of the school’s management under Onimawo due to his union activities, Igbafen told The Guardian in Benin City that the case of sexual harassment against him and one other lecturer came up in 2011.“The issue of sexual harassment against me happened in 2011. I faced a panel and responded appropriately to the query. Most importantly, I was never indicted.”

Igbafen also urged the VC to account for about N5.5 billion he received from Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) assessment intervention fund. He explained that his recent face-off with the VC was a fallout of his non-compromising approach to acts of impunity exhibited by the VC.

“We (ASUU) challenged him to be open and transparent. You cannot move your wife from nowhere and make her a Lecturer 1 without a PhD and academic master’s degree. We have been on the matter and he has made attempts to compromise me as the chairman of the union and I refused.”

According to the management, the associate professor in the Department of Philosophy allegedly demanded sex for marks from female students.

•Sourced from The Guardian report

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