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UNILAG LECTURER, VICTIM NARRATE THE JULY 23 RAPE MESS ORDEAL

Published

11 years ago

August 8, 2015

For nine days, Shola (not real name) was in pain. The abdominal pain she endured felt as if a knife got stuck in her.

She was scared but she had no choice but to endure the pain since she couldn’t imagine telling her parents the unimaginable trauma she had been subjected to that led to the pains she was going through.

“How could I face them? How could I tell them that the man they handed me over to, to help process my admission, had raped me?” Shola said.

But then, much as she tried, she couldn’t continue hiding her ordeal, especially when the pains had become unbearable. Shola’s parents eventually got to know what their daughter had passed through in the quest of trying to become an undergraduate.

Eighteen-year-old Shola is one of the numerous hopeful candidates, wishing to secure admission into the University of Lagos. But her score of 211 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination fell short of the requirement for Mass Communication, which was her choice.

Her father, who resided in Abesan Estate in Ipaja area of Lagos, had done all he could to ensure that her daughter would become a university student this year but all his efforts seemed to be futile.

“Someone told me to send her UTME registration number. He checked on the university website and said she was not eligible. Not convinced, I went to the school myself to check and it was the same problem.

“I had to start making calls to other universities where she could secure admission and someone told me she they could be helped to gain admission into the Olabisi Onabanjo University with that score.

“As soon as the UTME result was released around May, I informed a friend of mine who lives within the estate, who is a lecturer at UNILAG. I took my daughter to him and he promised that when it was time for the post-UTME examination, he would help her out with the process.”

The friend Shola’s father mentioned is Dr. Akin Baruwa, a lecturer in the Department of Accounting, UNILAG, who is also a chairman of one of the community development committees of Abesan Estate.

Shola’s father explained that when she realised that her result was not being accepted as eligible for Mass Communication, he went back to Baruwa on July 22, 2015 and the lecturer told him to bring his daughter the following morning so he could take her to campus and see how he could help.

“He said they had to take off very early the following morning. I did not suspect anything unusual about that timing because I trusted him. By 4am, I roused my daughter. We prepared and I took her to Baruwa’s house. I did not opt to follow them because I trusted him. I did not imagine that anything untoward could happen,” he said.

Baruwa and Shola took off from Abesan about 5am. She would later return home by 11am. His daughter was noticeably moody as she came home. Two hours earlier, Baruwa had called the father and told him that he had done all he could but that it did not seem her admission would be possible.

“When he told me that, I believed he had done all he could and told my daughter to come back home,” he said.

But it was not the same Shola that home that came back. She was moody and noticeably quiet. She went straight to her room and locked the door.

In company with child rights activist, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, whom the case was reported to by the family, our correspondent spoke with Shola in private to give details of what actually happened in Baruwa’s office that day.

It was obvious the girl was trying hard to stay composed. While she spoke, her right hand would go to her lower abdomen occasionally. When asked about it, she explained that she was still feeling some pain, which had reduced a lot since she got treatment.

Shola said on Thursday, July 23, 2015, as her father handed her over to the lecturer, she still did not suspect anything until they got to around Maryland.

“While I was inside the car, he started to touch my hair and rub my head. I was very surprised and I brushed off his hand. He never tried it again till we got to UNILAG,” Shola alleged.

According to her, while they were on the way, Baruwa was showing her different parts of town, telling her about places she did not know.

She alleged, “While we were on the way, he asked if I go out at all and I told him I don’t usually go out. And he would show me a place and say ‘This is Maryland o. You may not know since you don’t go out.’ Then he took me to the Yaba College of Technology. He drove inside and showed me the place. We later proceeded to UNILAG.

“When we got to his office, it was about 6.30am. The offices in the building were deserted. He said he liked to be early to avoid traffic. He told me to sit on the couch in his office.

“I noticed he was restless. He would stand and go outside sometimes. He asked if I wanted anything, I told him I was fine. He put on the television; I told him I was okay. He put on the air conditioner and I told him I did not want that.

“He had already heated water and made Coffee, which he offered to me. I told him I was okay and really did not need that. He then put the hot Coffee on the table. Later, out of respect, I took the cup and sipped a little. I started to feel drowsy not long after that. I did not know why.”

According to Shola’s narration, Baruwa later took her to see a female official in another building who examined her documents and explained further that there was little that could be done on her admission.

Baruwa reportedly said she might have to opt for diploma.

Shola claimed that when they went back to his office, the lecturer kept her document on his table.

She said, “He kept standing and moving around the office. Later, he went outside and when he came back inside, he locked the door and kept the key on his table. I did not know what was happening.

“A moment later, he told me to pick up a paper for him beside the couch. As I bent down to pick up the paper, he pushed me into a corner of the couch and held me down as he forcibly removed my trousers and underwear.”

Our correspondent asked at this point if Shola made any attempt to shout to alert anybody nearby.

She claimed that she actually screamed but that the way he held her down did not allow her voice to be as audible as she had wanted it to be.

Shola claimed, “If people were around the office, they would have heard me shout. He held me down, and pulled down my trousers and underwear. I screamed and begged him to leave me alone but he did not.

“After he had his way, he released me. As soon as I pulled up my trousers, I grabbed the keys to the door and rushed out while he was dressing up. He was walking behind me as I walked downstairs from his office. He said nothing as I walked away crying. He later went back.”

Shola’s father told our correspondent that he had been able to secure a place for her to write her post-UTME examination for an admission into OOU but the young girl has refused to go.

When our correspondent asked Shola why she refused to go, she said “How can I be sure that this same thing would not happen there? I don’t know anybody there. If it happens again, where would I run to?”

Our correspondent tracked down Dr. Baruwa a day after speaking with Shola and he gave his version of the encounter.

According to him, he indeed had a sexual encounter with Shola but it was “consensual.”

The lecturer, who seemed to be in his early 40s, told our correspondent that he made the mistake of not doing enough to resist the temptation of ‘sleeping’ with Shola.

Speaking with our correspondent in the front of his house out of earshot of his wife and two children, Dr. Baruwa said, “I swear to God that the girl agreed to everything that happened. She was a chatty girl, who did not show any shyness.

“It is true that I took her to YABATECH and showed her places. What is not true is that I deliberately took off from home because of any plan to do anything bad to her. I took off from home that early to avoid traffic.

“When she was in my office, she was the one telling me to be free with her. I realised that I needed to lie down a little and did not want my shirt to be rumpled. When I pulled it off, she even told me not to mind her presence that since it was my office, I could do whatever I wanted.

“When we first got to the office, she lay on my chest and was even playing with my manhood. That was why I could not resist it. After we came back from seeing the woman who was supposed to help with her admission, she was about to go when I told her to give me a hug. It was that which now led to the actual sexual encounter.

“When I realised that I could not resist her, I had to tell her to let me put on a condom. The truth is that, while I was putting on a condom, she stood by and waited. I did not actually penetrate. When she was saying ‘it’s enough, it’s enough’ and complaining that her tummy had started hurting her, I stopped.”

Baruwa explained that Shola’s father had sent a cryptic text message to him (days later when he learnt of what happened to his daughter), saying that he had learnt of what he did to his daughter.

“I know I betrayed his trust but nobody would understand it was consensual. I would have reached out to him to beg him if I think it would solve the problem,” he said.

When told that Shola went through more than a week of excruciating abdominal pain, Baruwa explained that if Shola left him the day of the encounter with any sign of hurt, he would have reached out to her to find out how she was doing.

Two days after our correspondent spoke with Baruwa, he was arrested by the police and the case is being investigated at the Isokoko Police Division, Agege, Lagos.

The case has also been reported at the Office of the Public Defender under the Lagos State Ministry of Justice. The Director of the OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, said the case would be followed to its logical conclusion.

Director of the Esther Child Rights Foundation, Esther Ogwu, a social worker handling the case, said when the case was first reported to her, the health of the girl was her immediate concern.

She said, “I had to refer them to the Mirabel Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Lagos so that she could get comprehensive treatment. This case is just another reason for girls and young women to be cautious of the issue of sexual assault.

“I believe this lecturer had been doing this in the past. It is necessary for girls to be aware and know what to do when in a potentially dangerous situation where they may be assaulted.

“I don’t expect him (the lecturer) to admit that he raped her. I knew he would say it was consensual, but I suspect that this is not the first time he would do such thing. Let the law take its course because we don’t know how many other girls are being saved because this case is coming out to the public.”

Baruwa was arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate’s Court, Lagos on Thursday. He has been remanded at the Kirikiri Prison.

celebrity radar - gossips

CELEBRATING A DISTINGUISHED STATESMAN: AMB. DR. BEN U.W. AMADI HONORED ON HIS BIRTHDAY FOR LEGACY OF VISIONARY LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2026

Sahara Weekly

*CELEBRATING A DISTINGUISHED STATESMAN: AMB. DR. BEN U.W. AMADI HONORED ON HIS BIRTHDAY FOR LEGACY OF VISIONARY LEADERSHIP AND SERVICE

*Global* – Colleagues, dignitaries, and citizens across nations today join in celebrating *Amb. Dr. Ben U.W. Amadi*, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Atlantis, as he marks another year of impactful life and service on this special day.

#### *A LEADER DEFINED BY EXCELLENCE AND SERVICE*
Described by peers as a remarkable personality and visionary leader, Amb. Dr. Amadi’s unwavering commitment to excellence, leadership, and service continues to inspire many across nations. His tenure as Deputy Prime Minister has been characterized by strategic diplomacy, principled governance, and a relentless pursuit of progress for the people of the United Kingdom of Atlantis and its international partners.

#### *A LEGACY OF WISDOM, CHARACTER, AND PROGRESS*
Those who have had the privilege of knowing and working with Amb. Dr. Amadi point to his wisdom, strength of character, and passion for progress as defining qualities. Under his stewardship, initiatives focused on cultural advancement, information integrity, and cross-border collaboration have gained significant momentum.

“His leadership is not measured only in policy, but in people transformed,” said a senior official from the Ministry of Information & Culture. “He leads with clarity, compassion, and an unshakable commitment to the greater good.”

#### *HONORING YEARS LIVED AND LIVES TOUCHED*
On this auspicious occasion, tributes are pouring in from diplomatic circles, civil society, and the private sector, honoring not just the years he has lived, but the lives he has touched, the legacy he is building, and the greatness that lies ahead.

From youth mentorship to international alliances, Amb. Dr. Amadi’s influence extends beyond titles. His work continues to shape discourse around sovereign dignity, cultural heritage, and responsible leadership in the 21st century.

#### *STATEMENT FROM THE OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER*
While no formal statement has been issued by Amb. Dr. Amadi today, his office conveyed gratitude for the outpouring of goodwill and reaffirmed his dedication to the mandate of service entrusted to him by the United Kingdom of Atlantis and its citizens worldwide.

#### *ABOUT AMB. DR. BEN U.W. AMADI*
Amb. Dr. Ben U.W. Amadi serves as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Atlantis. He is widely recognized as a distinguished diplomat, strategist, and advocate for cultural and information advancement. His leadership philosophy centers on excellence, ethical governance, and building institutions that outlive individuals.

celebrity radar - gossips

WITH LOVE TO WAZIRI by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2026

Sahara Weekly

POLICE SHOULD LEAVE FEMI FANI-KAYODE ALONE

WITH LOVE TO WAZIRI by Chief Femi Fani-Kayode

“I will not respond to Kashim Shettima because he is disrespectful. I am older than him and I have more experience in governance than he does, so I will not respond to him. It is not part of our tradition in the North to disrespect elders. You cannot look at someone who is senior to you in both age and accomplishments and start taunting him. That is not our tradition, so I won’t engage with him.”- Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Wazirin Adamawa, 13th April 2026.

My dear Waziri,

You know I love you very much and have expressed admiration for your efforts from time to time over the last 36 years since I have known you.

You will recall that we first met under the auspices of the now defunct September Club in 1989.

You attended our meeting as a mentee and loyalist of the late and great General Shehu Musa Yar’adua who we all reverred, loved and admired. It was a great event and those of us that hosted you and the General, despite being so young at the time, learnt so much from his wisdom and experience and your unalloyed and abiding devotion and loyalty towards him which was glaring for all to see.

Despite that, I am constrained to write the following.

With the utmost respect and in spite of your cultural sensitivities permit me to remind you of the following and to offer some unsolicited counsel.

You said you cannot answer Vice President Kashim Shettima because he is disrespectful and because you are older and far more experienced than him.

That is strange coming from you because I seem to recall that between 1999 and 2007 when we were in power you openly insulted, disrespected and led a full scale rebellion and unrelenting mutiny against President Obasanjo who was not only your boss and our leader but who also had far more working experience than you and was much older.

The only reason you cannot answer Kashim is because you have nothing to say, you have no answer to his challenge and finally, unlike you ever were or could be, he is totally and completely loyal to his principal and our leader President Tinubu.

As Vice President you could not find the courage to do same. As a matter of fact from day one of the 8 years that you were VP till the day we left office you were plotting to remove OBJ from his seat with the help of other dissidents and make yourself President. What could be more disrespectful than that to an elder or anyone else.

I am a living witness to the whole thing and I am pleased to say that you failed.

Please do not invoke age and experience as a reason for not responding to others when they criticise you. You forfeited that right long ago.

It takes courage and character to be loyal. Kashim has that courage and character but you never did.

Outside of this I wish you well in your endeavours sir and I hope and pray that you can resolve the grave challenges you are facing in your party so that you can meet us in the field of battle and we can trounce you at the polls in 2027.

Permit me to conclude with the following observations.

You said the following to Charles Aniagolu of Arise Television yesterday:

“I know Goodluck Jonathan very well, he is a decent young man but also inexperienced, which contributed to his failure to manage the affairs of the country”.

You refer to a man that has lived on the earth for 68 years and that has had the privilege of not just enjoying the position you once attained as Vice President but also went further than you to become President as a “young man”?

I am astounded by the sheer arrogance of your words.

This is all the more so given the fact that you are only 11 years older than him if reports about your age are to be believed.

You went further by saying that Jonathan was “inexperienced” and “he failed”?

You forgot that during Jonathan’s time Nigeria had the fastest growing economy on the African continent and did so much more but I leave it to his former Government officials and Ministers to defend his record in public office and prevent you from distorting and revising history and attempting to rubbish that record.

What I will say though, as the Director of Jonathan’s Media Presidential Campaign Organisation in 2015, is that he was a loyal Vice President to President Umaru Yar’adua and that he never betrayed his principal, coveted the latters office or tried to rubbish his legacy.

I can also attest to the fact that he was not only humane, gentle, restrained, kind and compassionate to a fault as a leader but that he also did his very best as President at a difficult time when bombs were being dropped all over the North in order to discredit and destroy him and his Government by the usual suspects just as they are attempting to do to Tinubu today in an attempt to bring him down.

Jonathan also displayed virtues of leadership and decency towards his followers the likes of which you cannot possibly imagine, match or emulate.

Through thick and thin even during the most challenging years when many of us faced savage and unrelenting persecution he abandoned none and he stuck by his friends and supporters which is more than I can say for most leaders.

These qualities cannot be taken away from him by anyone, least of all your goodself.

When a man that is incapable of trust, loyalty or fidelity runs down a man like Jonathan who embodies and epitomises all three it is not only painful but also unacceptable and even if the whole world sits by quietly and allows you to get away with it I will not.

I am glad that the Center for Responsible Governance (CRG) responded to you effectively on this issue and defended the honor of Jonathan and I subscribe to all that they said in their communique. I commend them and I salute their courage.

Most important of all is the fact that Jonathan had the courage and decency to walk away from power and hand it to President Buhari on a platter of gold after he lost the election in 2015.

If nothing else you must at least commend him for that.

Given your obsession with power and craving for it, I wonder whether you would have done the same.

It is obvious that despite all your efforts to cobble your platform together you are already anticipating a crushing defeat in next years election and your grave fears and desperate disposition are betrayed by the words you spoke at your so-called party Convention a few days ago where you said the following.

“It is clear that INEC is being used in this country. Let the Federal Government know that we fought the military to bring democracy to this country and we will f!ght the Federal Government to restore democracy.”

You can smell your defeat coming and you know that your ambition to be President of our country is slowly melting away like an iceberg that is approaching the tropics.

Like the mighty ship they called the Titanic your ambitions are about to crash and sink and you are already looking for excuses and threatening fire and brimstone.

Please do those of us that care for you and that respect you a favour by learning to lose with dignity and accepting the virtue of humility because all power comes from God.

When you lose, and lose you will, it will not be because of INEC but because you are running against a man that is far better than you in every shape and form and every way and manner.

It is also because God resists the proud and exalts the humble.

Please leave INEC out of it and prepare to accept the failure that is your portion and that is coming your way.

As for your threats to “fight the Federal Government” when the inevitable happens I can only say that good luck to you and advise you that at your distinguished old age you should know far better.

Whichever way I doubt anyone is losing any sleep over your threats because your assertions and allegations against INEC are not only baseless but also utterly (forgive me for using these words) asinine and nonsensical.

Outside of that they are also very dangerous and may affect the stability and peace of our nation which is precisely what you are attempting to achieve.

I advise you to desist from this reckless course sir and shun those around you that are advising you to tread it because it will not augur well for you or for them.

You are a respected democrat and not a lawless anarchist who seeks to scatter the entire table and pull down the entire house simply because you cannot have your way.

That is not you and you are far better than that. When you lose, kindly take it in good faith, move on and either try again in 2031 or retire from politics accepting that God never intended you to be President.

There is absolutely no shame in that because you have already achieved so much and established a strong and enviable legacy.

Please do not destroy it all out of blind ambition and the desire to get what God has chosen not to give you.

Nigeria has been good to you. Please do not try to set her on fire.

Back to the point.

My dear Waziri, both Kashim Shettima and Goodluck Jonathan were loyal to their bosses and you were incapable of doing the same.

That is where the story begins and ends. Ambition is like a drug that blinds and kills slowly.

I am sorry to say that this affliction has seized you since 1993 and appears to have become even more pronounced today otherwise you would not even dream of opposing the candidacy of President Bola Tinubu after all he did for you over the years after you were driven out of the PDP for your treacher in tatters and disgrace in 2014.

Both the late President Muhammadu Buhari and Tinubu housed you in their new party at the time, rehabilitated you and gave you a new lease of political life only for you to leave them, go back to PDP and oppose them by running against their party for the Presidency six years later in 2019.

Not only that, after you lost the 2019 election you thoroughly destroyed the same PDP that took you back, forgave you and gave you a platform to run on by dividing the party along regional, religious and ethnic lines.

You violated and destroyed its zoning formula by insisting that its presidential candidate (which of course had to be your goodself) must again come from the North in 2023 and you attempted to truncate, destroy and bury the aspirations, political career and trajectory of men like Governor Nyesome Wike who had not only funded the party for years but had welcomed you back into its ranks with open arms in 2017 and supported you for the Presidency in 2019.

Forgive me for saying so but loyalty and commitment to a collective and common cause does not appear to be your forte sir.

The Bible says “He who repays good with evil, evil will never leave his house”.

I do not wish you or yours evil but kindly consider this.

Both Goodluck and Kashim repaid their boss’s good with good whilst you repaid your boss Obasanjo’s good with evil and that is precisely why they have risen and will continue to rise to greater heights than you ever will.

Finally in the same interview with Charles Aniagolu you said the following about your colleagues in your factional ADC party.

“Kwankwaso, El Rufai and Tambuwal are not as popular as I am”.

Again forgive me for saying so but the truth is that you have displayed such a lack of humility, such arrogance and such a glaring display of hubris with these words.

I wonder how those three names you mentioned all feel about what you have said about their popularity or lack of it.

Clearly this is the beginning of the disintegration of the ADC.

By the time this is all over you may well end up having ten factions in your party and not just three.

One thing is clear in all this and that is the fact that you sir are loyal to your ambition and to no-one and nothing else.

It is only a matter of time before your new found friends in the ADC appreciate that and see you for who and what you really are.

I come in peace and I wish you well sir.

(Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, the author of this essay, is an Ambassador Designate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a former Minister of Aviation, a former Minister of Culture and Tourism, a former Special Advisor to President Olusegun Obasanjo on Public Affairs, the Sadaukin Shinkafi, the Wakilin Doka Potiskum, the Otunba of Joga Orile, the Aare Ajagunla of Otun Ekiti and a Legal Practioner)

celebrity radar - gossips

‘Mojoyin Fadaka: A Quietly Rising Voice in Nollywood*

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2026

Sahara Weekly

Mojoyin Fadaka: A Quietly Rising Voice in Nollywood

Since her debut in 2023, Mojoyin Fadaka has been carving out a steady path in Nollywood—one defined less by noise and more by intention. Rather than chasing visibility, she focuses on growth, craft, and understanding the depth of each role she takes on.

Trained at Del York Creative Academy and KAP Film and Television Academy, Mojoyin built her foundation on discipline as much as talent. For her, acting is not just performance but preparation and emotional awareness—an approach that continues to shape her work across film and television.

Her growing filmography includes titles such as *Instead Of Love*, *Crazy Wives*, *Campus Queen*, *The Last Paycheck*, and *Between The Rails*. Across these projects, she has worked with respected figures in the industry while steadily expanding her range and screen presence.

Beyond acting, Mojoyin also explores storytelling through writing, a passion that influences how she interprets characters. She is drawn to roles that feel authentic and meaningful, avoiding shallow portrayals in favor of emotional depth and purpose.

Her versatility is further strengthened by her ability to perform in English, Yoruba, and Pidgin, with ongoing efforts to learn Igbo. She is also developing physical skills like boxing and swimming to broaden her adaptability for future roles.

Influenced by performers such as Viola Davis and Kehinde Bankole, Mojoyin describes her approach as instinctive—focused on allowing emotion rather than forcing it.

As Nollywood continues to expand, she remains focused on consistency over pressure, growth over speed. For Mojoyin Fadaka, the journey is not about rushing ahead, but building something lasting—one role at a time.