Professor Olatunji Tajudeen Fasasi ‘OTF’ Abanikanda became the dean of the Lagos State University School of Agriculture (LASUSOA) in 2020. From the very moment Abanikanda assumed this position, students and staff began to have a lot more to worry about.
To clash with Abanikanda requires very little effort and bears grave consequences. For instance, Judith Aluko’s* offence was that he deemed her rude. For failing to greet Abanikanda once, Al paid for it with an extra year. Aluko told FIJ that she had greeted him several times without getting a response.
Whether it was a pregnant student who had to buy and carry five heavy slates on a bike for unintentionally breaking one during her Farm Practical Year (FPY) or a male student whose prostration in the rain was not enough to appease OTF Abanikanda, most LASU Agriculture students have little to tell of their encounter with the dean since 2020 but tales of terror.
Abanikanda’s tenure was hellish enough for students that they all learnt to avoid getting into his bad books. However, avoiding his troubles was not enough, what seemed minute and inconsequential could cost a student an academic session.
ABANIKANDA: The Despot of Epe
Abanikanda’s professorship appointment came under controversy in the past. In 2016, LASU stripped him of the appointment after claiming that he skipped the position of an associate professor.
An expert in animal breeding and genetics, Abanikanda was demoted to the position of a senior lecturer, but in 2019, the National Industrial Court ruled that he be reinstated, and within a year, he became the dean of the School of Agriculture in 2020.
LASU operates three major campuses: Ojo, Ikeja and Epe. The Ojo campus is the main campus with houses the central administration and a handful of faculties. Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM) is situated in the Ikeja campus, while the Epe campus accommodates the Faculty of Engineering, School of Agriculture (LASUSOA) and the Institute for Organic Agriculture and Green Economy.
As the dean of LASUSOA, the rectification of students’ results fell under Abanikanda’s jurisdiction, and he used this to his bidding against many students he was displeased with.
Numerous sources who spoke with FIJ, especially those in the faculty of agriculture, said Abanikanda shoved it in students’ faces that he had an authority no one could question in the school, not even the vice chancellor.
Abanikanda also boasts of being a spiritually-fortified person. He threatens his students with his deanship powers and spiritual powers.
“He chants incantations, curses people and even tells us that there is nothing the university can do to him,” Emmanuel Ogunniyi, a former student of Animal Science, recounted.
While Ogunniyi was a student of LASUSOA and undergoing his Farm Practical Year, he had an encounter with Abanikanda that made him spend an additional year.
“For Farm Practical Year, attendance was supposed to be 70 marks and aptitude test was supposed to be 30 marks. At the end of the practical year, we were all expecting to have As, but at the end, I was seeing Ds. In FPY 416, I got zero,” he narrated.
“Farm practical is made up of many courses.
“I went to Miss Oso, the lecturer in charge, and she said she did not understand what was going on, that I should go to the coordinator. Dr Kareem, the coordinator, said I did not have enough marks in the practicals. Meanwhile, I was present in everything we did. There were some people who missed one whole month, they never had any issue. I never missed a day. I took it in good faith that I was going to sort it in my 500 level.
“In 500 level, when I was done with my project and exams and it was time for people to be cleared to go for NYSC. The dean was my supervisor then, and he said I was not going to be cleared because of that 400 level course. He made me do heavy farm work. From all us of who had the issue, I was the only person made to write an exam. Every other person didn’t.
“I passed the exam, but they didn’t upload it. The dean told me to write him a mail that he was going to upload it. Meanwhile, I was supposed to go for one career fair at the main campus. I could not attend the career fair and I mailed him that I would not be able to attend because I was sick. The career fair was not even a part of our course at all, it did not concern us.
“After the career fair, he didn’t upload my result. I went to school to see him with a friend of mine.
“We apologised and prostrated. He promised me there that because I did not attend the career fair, he would not upload my result and make me stay one extra year in the school.”
Ogunniyi added that at a time, Abanikanda refused to allow his students leave during the December break despite having been in school for a whole year.
READ ALSO: LASU Quietly Suspends Abanikanda as Students Seek Justice After Abuse
“December 25, 26, 31 and January 1, we were working on the farm. He didn’t allow us to go home. We didn’t offend him. He just would not let us go home to our families. Then at one point, he felt we had suffered enough and he could let us go home, he allowed us go home for just two days,” one of Abanikanda’s students told FIJ.
“If you go home for a few days and a poultry bird dies whilst you are away, he makes you pay for it. If you don’t pay, he threatens you with an extra year. Even if a bird dies during your shift on the farm, you will pay for that bird. And not just that, you have to make provision for him to still sell the dead bird. So, he’s making money in two places. There was a particular time I went home, 15 birds died. He calculated it at N112,000 and I had to pay for it.
“For five days in a week, I slept on the farm from 11 pm to 7 am. Then I had to go to class from 8 am to 5 pm for four months.”
Aluko had a similar tale to tell about Abanikanda.
“From the start, he never liked me and I did not care. Anytime I greet him, he snubs me. During the period I was doing my final year project, I was going to the farm to water my plants with my cousin and we both greeted this man, and as usual, he snubbed us. Then after walking down he called me back that I was disrespectful and he started threatening me,” Aluko told FIJ.
“He reported me to lecturers including my project supervisor. He said that I was disrespectful and he’s going to make sure I did not graduate.
“He kept reporting me to lecturers. Even my supervisor kept calling me that I should apologise to him. Anytime I go to his office, he would ignore me. He would use me as an example not to be followed by the 400 level students. I was in 500 level then.
“In 400 level, no one could register first semester courses.
“I had to register some first semester courses in my second semester, which was my own personal mistake, but it’s something that could be rectified for me. So, when our results were uploaded, three of my results did not come out in the second semester which got me bothered. I went to meet the dean and Mrs Kareem, our coordinator then who was in charge. She kept assuring me that it would be rectified, but the dean used the opportunity to delay me for a whole year.
“Even when I went to Ojo to complain, they said the problem could only be fixed in my faculty; all they had to was just send a message to the ICT to upload my result.”
Another lecturer, Professor Yinka Okunbena, tried to intervene in the situation, Aluko said. She continuously pleaded with the ICT department to open the portal for the affected, but Abanikanda stood against her. Okunbena’s death did not allow her see the fight till the end.
“He was telling lecturers that he did it intentionally just because he wanted to punish me. After wasting a year, what he delayed me for barely took him two minutes to fix on his laptop,” Aluko recounted.
ABANIKANDA: Sexual Harasser, Sexual Predator
Apart from constantly threatening students with extra years, Abanikanda also leveraged his position to sexually harass and molest female students.
For instance, Adesuwa Alade, an ex-student, told FIJ that Abanikanda would publicly tell students that he was having a sexual affair with another lecturer.
“There is one Miss Osho, she was one of our crops lecturers back then, but I heard she has left. Everyone knew then that they were having an affair. The man used to say before everybody, ‘I took off her pants last night’. Osho would be trying to caution him, but he would ask her to disprove him by swearing to Ogun. She would just stand there looking,” Alade explained.
Adesuwa Alade*, an alumnus of the school, first had some problems with her results in her penultimate year. After completing her FPY, she had an underwhelming result which she tried to challenge, but one of the lecturers in charge of the course told her that she had to accept whatever she got.
As punishment, Alade and the other affected students had to do their final year project and also work two months on the farm concurrently.
“He gave us unbelievable tasks. He even told us to join the current 400 level then to do whatever they were doing. He said we must not leave the farm without his approval,” Alade said.
“So, when all of that was done and we reached the end of our 500 level, I realised that I failed one 500 level course, which was not supposed to be. So I went to meet the lecturer in charge and he said there was nothing he could do. I told him that I was going to call for my script, that we have rights as students. But he told that I know what that faculty entails.
“I cried, begged, nothing was done. Two of us failed the course. They promised to review it but nothing was done, so I had to do an extra year.
“During my extra year, I would have to leave home from Epe and if I get there ten minutes late, I would have to stay outside to take the note. I did all the assignments and practical. When result came out, I failed again. There were two lecturers taking the course at the time. I went to meet one of them. He did not give me audience. He would rather be listening to music or surfing the internet. When I was explaining myself, he was just listening to music all along.”
Professor Akinbile, the other lecturer, however, told Alade that he was sure she did well having read her work. But all he recommended was for Alade to meet the dean.
“I went to meet the dean, he didn’t give me audience. He told me to just wait for his email. After a week, he gave me a time to come see him in his office. When I got there and explained, he asked me why I was no longer friends with Asake*,” Alade said.
Asake*, Alade explained, was another student Abanikanda had an affair with, and it was public enough that many students were aware of it.
“I told him nothing happened between Asake and me, we just stopped being friends,” she recalled.
“He told me to do a 360 turn. He then started to comment on my body. He said I’m chubby and he liked what he saw. He came closer and was touching my chest, that he likes the way my boobs were full. He said he was not sure I would come back to show gratitude if he helps me. So I told him I would definitely be back to show appreciation, and I would bring whatever gifts he wants me to.
“He said I should know that he does not accept gifts and bribes. He assured me he would do something about my issue.”
Within a week, her result changed, Alade told FIJ. “Since then, I never went there to thank him”.
Alade and Ogunniyi both confirmed to FIJ that Abanikanda harassed Moslem hijab sisters because of their religious tenets that forbids them from making any physical contact with the opposite gender.
“There’s also Zainab, a hijab sister who always covered up but her face. He once threatened her to dress like every regular lady, if not, she would not graduate,” Alade added.
For Ojuolape Davidson*, her encounter with the dean began when he called her a “hookup girl” unprovoked.
The sexual harassment started towards the end of second semester of 400 level.
“In 400 level, he called me to talk to me on a Sunday morning as I was on morning shift. I can’t remember what we were discussing that day, but when we finished talking, he commented, ‘Ashawo, see how your nipple is standing’. I was embarrassed, so I didn’t give him audience,” Davidson recalled.
The worst experience however, happened a year later when he barged into while she was stark naked in a bathroom.
“In 500 level, one morning when we were sleeping on the farm, me and a friend went to the faculty to have our bath. We have designated toilets for male and female. Even the guys know, so they don’t come to where ladies have their bath,” Davidson narrated.
“One girl was in the toilet already, so the other girl entered the toilet to ease herself. I was the only one outside the toilet, naked. I was on my phone because I wanted to play music on my phone before entering the toilet I heard footstep and I asked ‘who is that’ twice.
“The person did not reply, then Abanikanda showed up. He saw me fully naked. He went back and said I shouldn’t be that careless next time. He asked if I had covered myself and I said yes.”
That very night, Abanikanda summoned Davidson. To her, it was going to be a conversation where he apologised, but to her surprise, his intention was to leverage on the earlier event to ask her to a date. She said the lecturer referred to her as the “first woman I have seen naked without dating”.
Davidson said she rejected his advances, even when he offered to help boost her grades.
“He started talking about my result, trying to manipulate me with it because I had a bad result and that was what he did to other people,” she added.
While in 400 level, during her FPY, Sekinah Razaq* endured sexual harassment from Abanikanda. During one of their FPY activities, he tried to get touchy. Razaq maintained her stance but Abanikanda would not stop. However, when he persisted with the touches, Razaq gave in.
“He was always coming around whenever It was my shift. I could not tell anyone because he is the dean. I knew he came because of me. He would come, press my breast. I would just stand there until he was done,” she narrated.
“There was a time he told me to use my hand to massage his penis. He would not bring it out but he would ask me to put it into his trouser. Sometimes, he would […] his penis against my buttocks. Sometimes, I don’t allow him know whenever I was on shift or not.
“During my 500 level, he once asked me to come to his office. He wanted to continue what he had started.
“There was a day he wanted to kiss me by force. He also tried to force his hand inside my breast but I resisted him so strongly. He wanted to force his way but a lecturer knocked and I took that opportunity to escape.”
When the students complaints about Abanikanda’s maltreatment first surfaced on X, the post went viral. LASU moved to quietly suspend Abanikanda. FIJ checked and saw his profile had been removed from the school’s website.
When FIJ called Abanikanda, his phone number did not connect.
FIJ also sent him a text message but he said it was not the “due process”.
“I am aware of FIJ but not sure this is their modus operandi. It is an organisation I respect and will be willing to interact with when they follow due process,” Abanikanda’s response read.
Insiders claimed that Abanikanda had been reported to the school authorities in the past but LASU refused to act until it became a popular affair on social media.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Names with asterisks have been changed to protect the students of LASU’s School of Agriculture who spoke with FIJ for this story.
This article was originally written and published by FIJ.ng
