Dr Akin Baruwa: sent to jail for rape charge

A lecturer in accounting at the University of Lagos is spending the weekend in Kirikiri Prison following a remand order by an Ikeja Magistrate court, after a rape charge.

The lecturer, Dr Akin Baruwa was taken to court by the Isokoko police station for raping an 18 year-old daughter of a friend of his, seeking to be shortlisted by the university for the post UTME test.

The Punch Online reported that the violated girl scored 211 in the UTME and nurses the ambition to study Mass Communication at UNILAG.

Since she failed to meet UNILAG’s high cut-off mark, the father had approached Baruwa for help.

The report said Baruwa agreed to help and took the girl with him to UNILAG on 23 July. Both of them drove out early from their Abesan Estate, in Ipaja, in the suburb of Lagos.

The admission seeking-girl did not get the assistance promised.

But she ended up being violated by Baruwa right in his office, at the university, according to child rights activist, Mrs. Esther Ogwu, to whom the case was reported by the family.

Director of the Esther Child Rights Foundation, Esther Ogwu, a social worker handling the case, said:

“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.”

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.