The dust raised by the allegations of sexual harassment the mother of an SS2 student of Queens College, Yaba, Lagos, identified as Mrs. Chinenye Okoye, levelled against a Biology teacher in the school, Mr. Owoseni Osifala, is yet to settle. Mrs. Okoye, according to reports credited to her by the social media recently, revealed that one late Thursday night, her daughter called her on telephone and reported how the teacher living in the boarding house area allegedly cornered her on her way back from easing herself just before lights out. Mrs. Okoye’s words: “She told me that he called her and she thought he wanted to punish her for leaving her dorm room when it was almost lights out. But when she got closer to him, he was smelling of alcohol and she ran away from him. But he ran after her and grabbed her and tried to kiss her while touching her private parts. She started screaming and then students started coming out, so he left her and pretended to punish her. But the students already know his ways, so they started booing him until the housemistress came out and chased them inside, telling them to be quiet and that nothing was actually going on… ”. Mrs. Okoye lamented that all the efforts she made to ensure the school authorities sanctioned the teacher was rebuffed, and that the teacher continued to taunt the girl notwithstanding the claim of sexual harassment against him.
The matter has since been reported to the police. The Lagos State Police Command commenced investigation into the case almost immediately; and had quizzed Osifala and the Principal of Queens College, Dr. Lami Amodu; while the students of the school had staged a peaceful protest during which they vouched for Osifala’s innocence. Latest reports on the matter said members of a panel of enquiry set up by the Federal Ministry of Education to probe the incident; comprising six members – three males and three females – arrived at the school last Wednesday to commence work. While it is necessary to stress that the suspected Biology teacher remains innocent of any crime – in the eyes of the law – until he is formally arraigned and his alleged offences are proved beyond any reasonable doubt, shrugging off the significance of the scandal will amount to sheer hypocrisy. For it provides yet another unflattering clue to the huge loss of moral bearings and decay in the country. Not a few Nigerians will feel a deep sense of disappointment that the very person entrusted with safeguarding the students from the menace of girl-child abusers has become a chief suspect in the very crime he was appointed, equipped and paid to eliminate.
When teachers to whom society entrusts the safety, welfare and future of its youths betray the high trust of society; and are accused of destroying the youths instead, then should all be alarmed indeed at the level of moral degeneration in the land. Nonetheless, the panel of enquiry from the Federal Ministry of Education should do a thorough and dispassionate job of its charge, particularly against the backdrop of the insistence of Queens College authorities and the students on the innocence of Osifala, on the one hand, and claims that allegations of sexual harassment, sexual impropriety and indecent treatment of children by him and other male staff were consistently reported to the school authorities and former Principals and Vice Principals of the college, and no steps were taken to stop the acts, on the other. Mrs. Okoye also alleged that the school authorities “deliberately suppressed several complaints of sexual harassment which my daughter and some other students have consistently reported to their class teacher, year head, the Head of Department of the accused teacher and the principal’s office”.
Quite strange really has been the resolute stand of the school authorities, as has been widely reported, that the allegations against Osifala were unfounded, even before the conclusion of panel enquiries and police investigations. But a national daily (not National Mirror), quoted an old girl of the school as claiming that allegations of sexual harassment and indecent treatment of children by the teacher now in the eye of the storm dated as far back as 2005, when he was employed. However, what matters in the end is unravelling the truth through penetrating and diligent investigations, prosecuting and making the culprit pay for his crimes if found guilty as charged, or setting him free to get along with his life if proven to be truly innocent.
