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Queens College Allegation: Principal, Others React by OlujobaSamuel: 1:13pm On Mar 20, 2016 |
Read below, the reactions of Dr Mrs Lami Amodu,the
Principal of Queens College, as well as other
stakeholders, to allegations of sexual molestation of
an unnamed junior student. This allegation was
levelled against Olaseni Osifala who is a biology
teacher in the school, via social media.
*Please note that the views expressed are not the
views of mikeilesblog.com
PRINCIPAL:
When I resumed work as principal here, I was told of a
certain matron who housed a person that had
attempted to have an affair with a student. I was not
here when it happened but as soon as I was told, I
made sure that the matron was moved out of the
school premises. I have zero tolerance for such
behaviour. I have a daughter who schools here, even
before I began work here. I will not take chances.
As I talk to you, no single parent has come to me or
any of my Vice-Principals to report Olaseni as a
molester. I assure you that if the allegation was true,
other parents would have been buzzing our lines non-
stop. Children spread gossip fast. They would tell their
parents or relations, if anyone was molesting them
here. No parent would take such news lightly. When
this news reached me, I summoned an emergency
meeting of all the critical stakeholders. We all
discussed before inviting Mr Osifala. Every one of my
staff says positive things about the man. Of course
they were all here (Queens College) before me, so they
are qualified to assess members of staff properly.
Personally, even before I resumed, a former principal
of Kings College had recommended Olaseni as a
credible person to work with. His name is Otunba Dele
Olapeju. He is a highly respectable man. Let us not
forget that Olaseni worked with five different
principals, all of who also told me good words about
him, despite the various allegations against him.
I have investigated and we are not relenting in our
determination to get to the bottom of this case. The
man in question has been of impeccable character and
committed service since I resumed work here. I can
vouch for him.
When I resumed work here, I was told a few unsavoury
things about him. But investigations showed that each
time a new principal resumed at Queens College, these
allegations popped up. They would tell every new
principal that Mr Olaseni is a molester. But after
investigations, nothing concrete came up. My
predecessor, whom we just sent forth today, told me
the same thing. So it has been a recurring decimal,
these allegations.
We have come to understand that some persons are on
a campaign of calumny against this teacher. Yet, he is
the best teacher in our school. During World Teachers’
Day, he bagged five awards. The students all have
good things to say about him. Somebody somewhere is
up to some mischief and we will uncover this
unfortunate drama.
We place a premium on the security and welfare of our
girls. We are all mothers. We will not allow any staff to
endanger girls in this school.
I urge the general public to always endeavour to
confirm the stories they read on social media. Not
everything they read there is true.
I have quietly observed Olaseni over time. I have X-
rayed his relationship with students and I have not
found him wanting. The same students he has been
accused of molesting, are the ones who voted him
their best teacher.
The PTA Chairman is an external person, and she
attests to the character of the accused teacher. It did
not take long for me to see why the past principals
recommended him. He is extremely committed to his
job and some people are ready to bring him down.
I read the story on social media. I trust the public to
read between the lines. There are too many
inconsistencies with the story. Nothing is hidden in
this school. If, like the story said, students came out
at night to boo the molester, do you think that before
dawn, the story would not have spread like wild fire?
And for a whole month, nobody reported to me? It is
not possible.
There are approved channels of communication here. If
the parent actually went to the Vice-Principal and was
turned down, did the person ever come to me? No
parent here can ever say that they are afraid of coming
to me. Yet I never heard of this story until today. That
is not possible.
Again, a part of the story alleged that one of my Vice-
Principals threatened the parent to go to Abuja, and
that nothing will come out of it. I smiled when I read
that part. No right thinking person would have made
such a comment. I have been here long enough to
know what each one of my staff are capable of saying.
There is no way an administrator of her calibre would
say that.
This seems like an attempt to ridicule, not just Mr
Olaseni, but the hard-earned reputation of Queens
College. We are consulting with relevant stakeholders
and we will get to the bottom of this.
AKHETUAMEN B.E (Mrs):
I am the Chairperson of the Parents-Teachers
Association (PTA). I represent the best interests of
parents of the children in this school. I have two
daughters schooling here. After six years in the school,
I should be able to trust them to intimate me about
things that happen in the school, especially when I ask.
They have made it clear to me, no such thing
occurred. Meanwhile, no parent has called me to make
any such allegation against the teacher in question and
I find it very strange.
I know Olaseni as a teacher who has respect for
constituted authority. Knowing how the school
community works, I assure you that if such a thing has
happened, the students themselves would have given
the matter leverage. It would not have needed a
blogger to break the story. There is a policy against
use of phones in the college but we hear rumours that
some students smuggle in phones. Do you imagine
that such students would not have called their parents
with the gist? And for all this time that the event
allegedly occurred (one month now) do you think that
no parent would have raised eyebrows?
When I asked my daughter about this story, she said
she only started hearing about it today. I am an Edo
woman, I speak from my heart because I fear only God.
Even if I face anybody now, I can defend him (Olaseni)
authoritatively. I have always recommended him to
every principal that was posted here. Even the current
principal will confirm that I spoke positively about this
teacher to her. He always seeks to correct everything
going wrong within the school. He is fearless. He never
abdicates his duties and I say this with a sense of
pride.
I wonder who would want to pull him down. We are
looking into this matter and we will involve the Police.
VICE-PRINCIPAL (SENIOR SCHOOL):
These are all false allegations. Even with some past
principals, similar allegations were made against the
young man. Yet they all worked happily and
successfully with him, enough to make them
recommend him to their successors. Even the principal
we are sending forth today, Mrs Osime, can clarify this.
It is all crooked lies.
How can you make such a weighty allegation and not
be able to tell us who the child is? And if you see what
is written in the allegation, you will know that they are
all lies. For starters, Mr Olaseni does not live on the
school premises. So how can he be responsible for
molesting a child by 2am? Again, he teaches Biology.
The story says he teaches Integrated Science. That is
a lie. He also does not teach junior school as alleged in
the story. Biology is offered in the senior school. To
the best of our knowledge, Olaseni does not drink
alcohol. So there are some fundamental lies that
already give away the fact that someone is being funny
somewhere.
We have investigated. We tried to find out from our
boarding house mistresses about the said event, one
month ago. You can ask around at your own
convenience, there is no record of such a thing.
About the allegation that I told the parent to go to
Abuja, how is that possible? How can I tell a parent
that, when no parent has even come to me with such a
report? Did I threaten a ghost?
The story also said that the alleged ‘victim’ tried to
call her mother that night. Since phones are not even
allowed in the school, how is that possible? We do not
know yet, the alleged parent nor the student.
Our investigations continue.
SENIOR BOARDING HOUSE MISTRESS:
I am Mrs D. A Oludinmu. I am the senior boarding
house mistress of Queens College, Yaba. Yes, I admit
that Mr Olaseni comes around the hostel because he is
the Hostel Maintenance Officer. But there is a
procedure for that. He never comes without the
permission of the principal and even during
emergencies, he does not come alone. The principal
still has to permit him, and he always comes with the
maintenance boys.
Mr Olaseni does not come to the hostel outside
working hours. I can vouch for him.
HEAD GIRL:
The story has it that Mr Osifala lives in the school
compound. No male staff lives within. They also said
they saw our teacher with alcohol after lights out. This
cannot be true because he speaks against alcohol in
class. He is our Biology teacher, not Integrated
Science.
Knowing him from J.S.S 1 to S.S. 3 now, I can say that
the allegations are wrong. No, I just heard the story
this morning. My statement cannot be doctored.
Yes, we complain to him when we have problems in the
hostel. These problems include bad electric bulbs,
water problems, etc.
OLASENI (THE ACCUSED):
I am worried about this matter because there is no
truth in it. It is not the first time I have been accused
falsely. Students have openly confessed to being
recruited to frame me up in the past. The teachers
were there. They can tell you the truth. All I want is to
be the best teacher I possibly can. The reason I always
win the awards is a function of my drive for excellence.
It ensures that I am always busy. My work is not
secret. I am an open book. I know that whatever I say
now will not matter to those who have made up their
minds to judge me. Let God take control.
MY TAKE:
I also spoke with other vice-principals but their
testimonies were basically the same as others above. I
was told too, that current Miss Nigeria, Unoaku
Anyadike, is an alumni of the school. Last week, she
visited her former school and on sighting Mr Olaseni,
referred to him as the best Biology teacher ever.
From a very neutral point, I think that there are a lot of
holes on both sides. I will pick out a few.
THE ALLEGATION
1. How can someone be diligent enough to make such
an allegation, but be so careless as not to know what
subject the teacher teaches?
2. Apparently, the allegation of drunkenness was made
to give weight to the story. It is established that the
man does not drink.
3. How can any normal parent whose kid has been
molested, stop at having a verbal exchange with one
vice-principal and does not go to the principal nor the
Police?
4. Why did the parent not lodge an official complaint
with the school? That is an elementary error.
5. Why did it take one month to break this story? And
why on social media rather than the relevant agencies?
6. Why is the said parent not mentioned in the story?
Given that he/she has already decided to withdraw the
daughter from Queens College, there is nothing to
lose by openly facing the school authorities over such
a serious matter.
7. I read most of the alleged victims of the man. They
all have nothing actionable to say. All I have read are
comments like, “So the girls wey you sleep with that
time never do you?” and “He is evil. I stopped going to
class because of him.” These do not establish
anything. At best, they are very vague attempts at
directing the flow of public opinion. Only one lady
specifically mentioned that Mr Olaseni touched her
breasts and butt. But even she does not remember
what subject he taught her during the JAMB prep
classes. How do you remember butt pressing but
conveniently forget the subject that led to it?
8. Have you noticed that all of the people staking their
integrity on this man are mothers who, ordinarily,
should be wary of men with such history? Yet they
stand for him so valiantly. Is it possible for outsiders
to know him better than people who work with him
daily?
9. Why, despite the repeated attacks and allegations
against him, do successive principals choose to work
with him instead? And he gets recommendations from
some highly respected folks too.
10. This is important. The blogger said that she
received a mail from the parent of the molested child.
Perhaps, it is time to show us the original mail as
received inbox. During the sugabelly rape allegation,
we did see the necessary mails. Let us see this one as
well. Anybody can type a story and claim that they
received mails.
THE DEFENCE
1. Why is it, for years now, that Mr Olaseni has been
the consistent target of sex-related charges and
rumours? Is he the only male teacher in the school?
2. How come he has not gotten to the root of the
matter by identifying the alleged ‘insider’ trying to pull
him down?
3. Why is it that so many ladies are claiming to know
him by negative reputation?
4. When prodded, he infers that envy is the reason why
some “fellow teachers and staff” hate him enough to
plot his downfall. When I pushed further, his only
suspect is no longer based in Nigeria. How convenient
to point at a person who is not available to defend
herself?
5. I noticed that everybody gave an almost perfect
representation of who Olaseni is. Not even one
dissenting voice, not one person to diminish the
picture of perfection.
6. Of course, I cannot hold very firmly to the
testimony of students who stood before their school’s
management to give me their views about a teacher
who was also present. It is not a secret that such
cases can be doctored as part of damage control.
7. Could it be that Olaseni is a perfect man as
pictured, or is he an expert at pulling the wool over
our eyes?
8. Olaseni is the most decorated teacher in this
school. How has he maintained such consistent
ratings? Could it be that he has been buying awards? I
am told that he is a very generous man. I hope he is
not ‘generously’ buying up laurels. I don’t know about
you but I have an issue with people who have squeaky
clean profiles.
I will urge the parents of the molested child to
vigorously pursue this matter, not just for their
daughter’s sake, but to ensure that other kids do not
fall victim of lewd paedophiles. They owe posterity that
much.
Queens College has to ensure proper investigations
into these allegations and come up with a transparent
report. Thankfully, the principal is very welcome to the
idea of transparent handling of this matter.
Having read the ‘facts’ presented by both sides, only
an independent inquiry can deal with this. Anything
else would be subjective. As of this moment, I sit on
the fence.
It is open secret that molestation occurs in schools. It
is also known that blackmail and set up occurs as well.
May truth be revealed speedily.
http://mikeilesblog.com/queens-college-allegation-principal-others-react/ |
Re: Queens College Allegation: Principal, Others React by Lifestone(m): 1:35pm On Mar 20, 2016 |
This is becoming interesting. Since the identity of the teacher including his picture is in the public domain, let's see the picture of the girl's parent so we can be sure it's not fiticious. I have always argued that bloggers should hear two side of a story before rushing to post them. Imagine if these allegations turn out to be false! Bloggers now behave like our Policemen, they publish before investigation, while police arrest before commencing investigation. |
Re: Queens College Allegation: Principal, Others React by resty4(m): 1:51pm On Mar 20, 2016 |
Fed min of edu do d needful,invstgt d mata punish culprits n trnsfer teachers dat hv spent 5 n abov yrs in d sch. |
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