Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, has constituted a committee to investigate an allegation of sexual misconduct involving a female student and a professor, after videos of the incident and the subsequent assault of the lecturer went viral on social media.
The Director of Information and Public Relations of UNIZIK, Aloysius Aattah, disclosed this to Oga Lecturer, a whistleblowing platform created by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) to expose and combat sexual harassment practices in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
Aattah identified the lecturer in the video as Ifeanyi Odinye, a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Studies, Faculty of Arts, but said the university had not established the identity of the female student.
“It happened on a Saturday, and we know it’s a weekend. Every action about the whole thing is just being activated this morning (Monday). A committee has been set up to investigate,” Aattah said.
The controversy followed the circulation of at least two videos with the caption accompanying the footage alleging that the man was a lecturer who had sexually harassed the female student.
“A lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) has reportedly been accused of sexually assaulting a female student. According to reports, the student escaped after packing the lecturer’s clothes. He was later confronted and beaten by students,” the caption read.
In one of the videos seen by Oga Lecturer, a young woman, later identified in reports as a student of the university, is seen walking towards the camera while carrying what appeared to be a man’s clothes.
Behind her, a naked man is seen attempting to move away from the scene to hide himself.
Moments later, several male students appeared to rush towards the man, assaulting him as the situation became chaotic.
However, Aattah, in his response to Oga Lecturer, said the committee would investigate what happened and make recommendations to the university management, noting that security agencies were already involved because the assault on the lecturer had a criminal dimension.
“The lecturer involved is at the hospital presently receiving treatment. He has not spoken officially, but everything is being documented,” he added.
He, however, said he planned to visit the lecturer at the hospital to obtain further information.
UNIZIK’s official profile identifies Ifeanyi Odinye, the lecturer at the centre of the scandal, as a professor in its Department of Chinese Studies, Faculty of Arts. He was previously described as the first indigenous professor of Chinese language and linguistics in Nigeria and Africa. The university’s website also identifies Odinye as the pioneer head of the Department of Chinese Studies.
When asked about the school’s sexual harassment policy, Aattah said UNIZIK has a sexual harassment policy and channels through which students can report complaints, stating that the Dean of Student Affairs is responsible for receiving students’ welfare-related complaints.
“Their channels are open for reports against any negative matter, whether involving students and fellow students or lecturers,” he said.
According to him, complaints brought before the university are referred to management through appropriate committees, which consider the issues and recommend decisions or sanctions where necessary.
Checks show that UNIZIK’s public-facing Student Affairs page similarly states that its unit handles students’ personal complaints and concerns, with a stated commitment to confidentiality.
The university has also previously published official guidance encouraging students to report sexual harassment, noting that its action plan identifies sexual harassment by lecturers as an issue requiring reporting, with such cases discreetly investigated.
Why female students turn to social media- Gender rights activist
Gender Mobile Initiative, a gender-rights organisation, in a statement issued on Monday, condemned both the alleged sexual misconduct and the physical assault on the lecturer.
“Violence, mob action, and the taking of the law into one’s hands cannot be a substitute for justice,” Abubakar Abdullahi, the organisation’s Communication and Digital Innovations officer, stated while arguing that the two issues should not be allowed to cancel each other out. “Allegations of sexual misconduct must be investigated seriously, while an accused person must not be subjected to mob justice,” the statement added.
The UNIZIK incident has also renewed questions about why students increasingly turn to social media when they experience or witness alleged sexual harassment.
Gender Mobile Executive Lead, Omowumi Ogunrotimi, said students’ decisions to go public may be influenced by their experiences or perceptions of how universities handle sexual harassment complaints, which could instead reflect a deeper crisis of confidence in institutional accountability systems.
“From our years of working with students and institutions on sexual harassment prevention and accountability, I would be cautious about interpreting the increasing use of social media as simply a preference for “public shaming” over formal reporting. In many cases, it is a reflection of a deeper crisis of trust in institutional accountability systems,” Ogunrotimi said.
The sexual harassment expert said that having a sexual harassment policy or committee on paper does not necessarily mean students consider the system safe or effective.
She explained that students are less likely to use formal reporting mechanisms when they do not know where to report an incident, what happens after a complaint is made, how long an investigation will take or whether they will be protected from retaliation.
“Where previous cases have been poorly handled, delayed, suppressed, dismissed, or resolved in ways perceived to favour powerful actors, those experiences become institutional memory,” she added.
The expert said the growing number of sexual harassment allegations appearing first on social media should therefore be treated as a warning signal for universities.
“It may be telling institutions that the problem is not that students have suddenly become unwilling to use formal systems. It may be that formal systems have not yet earned their trust,” she said.
Ogunrotimi urged universities to demonstrate that complaints can be made safely, investigated independently and resolved within reasonable timelines, while protecting survivors from retaliation and ensuring procedural fairness for all parties.
