More shocking revelations have emerged on the activities of a part-time lecturer of the University of Lagos, Akin Baruwa, who allegedly raped an 18-year-old admission seeker recently.
Another 28-year-old former student has come out with a revelation of how she barely escaped being raped by the lecturer.
According to the young woman who craved anonymity, the incident occured in February 2014, when she was finalising her undergraduate project at the Distant Learning Institute of UNILAG.
She told Punch that she was like a prey, which fell into the trap of Baruwa, when she was reassigned to him after her supervisor retired.
Agnes said, “I finished my project around December 2013. It was around that time my supervisor, who was a very pleasant woman, retired. I was reassigned to Mr. Akinfolarin Baruwa. I got his number and called him on the phone and he told me to come the following day.
“He fixed the appointment around 5pm the next day. I went to meet him in an office in the Faculty of Business Administration, which he shared with another lecturer. I noticed it was the other lecturer’s name that was on the door.
“When I got to his office, I noticed that there was a student that came to submit her project also. She was from the Lagos State University. So, I supposed he was also doing part-time work at LASU.
“While I was there, other students came to submit their projects also and he told me to wait outside. Later, he started sending me on errands. He would tell me to go and make one photocopy or another or buy things for him. I was patient and did everything he asked.
“He did all these until around 8pm when he eventually looked at my project. As soon as he opened the pages, he flung it away. ‘What kind of rubbish is this?’ he said. He said I would have to start the project from the beginning.
“Mr. Baruwa told me that everything I did was rubbish. He said I did not cite a particular reference somewhere and said he would report me to our course adviser for plagiarism and I would be given an extra year. He just wanted to hold on to something just to rubbish my work.”
Agnes alleged that it was at this point that she started to beg Baruwa. She claimed that she was on her knees because she was writing exams and most of her colleagues had already finished their project.
“There was also a deadline I had to meet for the submission of the project. I explained all these to him and begged. Later, he said I should drop the project that he would see what he could do about it,” Agnes said.
Agnes said after Baruwa softened on his threat that she would have an extra year, she went down on her knees to thank him but while she was saying her appreciation, the man allegedly moved around the office closing the blinds.
“He brought out some fruits from the fridge. I thought he was preparing to go home when he was doing that. He was clearing the books on the sofa. He said, ‘is that how to say thank you?’ I only knew something was amiss when he suddenly locked the door,” she said.
“Before I knew what was happening, he pulled me and put my hands on his manhood. He grabbed my breasts and I began to struggle with him. He started to forcibly remove my clothes. I was shocked beyond words. I felt really violated.
“He grew more aggressive as I fought him off. I screamed but I knew my screaming would do nothing because the office is opposite the UNILAG guest house by the seaside.
“I am asthmatic. As he was about to force himself on me, I realised that I was beginning to have breathing problem as if an attack was on its way. I decided to lay still and I started breathing excessively as if I was already having asthmatic attack. I started to beg him as I breathed heavily. I told him, ‘Please, I can’t breathe, I have asthma.’
“He then left me alone after that and apologised. He said he was not usually like that and that he was only aroused. He said I should just give him a ‘handjob’ (fondle his manhood with my hand) instead. I started to beg him again and pretended as if I wanted to faint. I told him to open the door in order for me to get fresh air.”
Agnes said as she rushed out of Baruwa’s office, she was in so much shock that she lost her bag without knowing. She said the shock was so much that she fell down and could not move.
She claimed that the next time she went to Baruwa’s office for her project, she had to tell a friend to follow her.
She said, “He must have sighted me from afar because when I told him that I was around, he just dismissed me that he had no time. He gave me an appointment for early morning but I went there some minutes after 7am. He said, ‘You think you are smart eh? You are playing with your graduation.’
“After I eventually got the project back from him and went back to submit, there was a little activity in his office then. He told me to wait outside. As the office cleared and the lecturer he shared the office with left, he called me inside.
“He started to force himself on me again and I started begging that I had a fiancée. He said ‘So?’ In broad daylight, he was fondling me. But as I resisted him and dragged myself from his grip, my shirt tore. I was infuriated. I stormed out of his office and threatened that I was going straight to the Vice Chancellor’s office.
“He became aggressive at this point and shouted at me that I should get out of his office. He said I would never graduate. I was so angry that I was going straight towards the Senate building”.
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