The Vice President of Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife Students’ Union, Tosin Jacob, says she resorted to
using a broken bottle to defend herself during a clash over N3.8m
because she feared she might be sexually attacked...
The clash occurred during a meeting on the utilisation of N3.8m recently disbursed to the union by the school management.
Jacob, popularly called Emerald on
campus, explained that she was scared of being mobbed or gang-raped,
alleging that she had earlier been threatened sexually and physically.
According to her, she had initially
attempted to escape from the meeting in which the clash occurred but
that the exits were blocked against her.
It would be recalled that Jacob and the
Social Director of the union, Adedayo Emmanuel, had engaged in a bloody
clash on Tuesday evening.
While Emmanuel, popularly known as Lamba
sustained a minor injury, Jacob is currently admitted at the Seventh
Day Adventist Hospital, Ile-Ife, after being allegedly head-butted by
Emmanuel
She shared her story on hospital bed on
Friday, lamenting that other members of the union executives connived
against her over her stand against financial mismanagement.
Jacob, who complained that she was
molested and assaulted in the meeting, noted that she might have
suffered more injuries without self-defence.
She said, “There was a gang-up. I was
detained against my will, taunted, overpowered and severely beaten by
Emmanuel in the presence of the president, Ibukun Oyekan, and other
union executives.
“The meeting started a few minutes to
7pm. The major issue for discussion was how to spend the N3.8m.There
were all kinds of phantom projects being proposed and I was convinced
that these projects were just ploys for the diversion of the fund.
“I disagreed with most of the
deliberations. The president also instructed that all exits be locked
and that I had to be a part of the meeting at all cost.
“I began to raise my voice that I was
being held against my will. I insisted I was leaving, and at that point,
feeling threatened and unsafe, I got into a struggle with Emmanuel at
the door.
“In order to make me comply, he pushed
me aggressively several times and at some point hit me and pulled me
back. While I was being man-handled, I became conscious that I was the
only female in the room. The other union officers were all males and
were in agreement and I was the only one opposing their plans in that
meeting. They taunted me as Emmanuel hit me.
“I began to scream in alarm, people
around the students’ union building heard my voice and made attempts to
force their way in, but they were prevented by the president who told
them that everything was okay and that a meeting was in session. At this
point I became desperate and no longer felt safe at all.
“I began to look for anything around me to defend myself with.
I eventually got hold of a bottle
because that was the only thing I could lay hold on in self-defence.
People were banging on the door outside so as to come to my aid until
the speaker of the parliament found a way to force his way into the room
to salvage the situation.
“In the meantime, I had been
head-butted, while the bottle had been collected from me while Emmanuel
kept hitting me. I sustained injuries in the arm, legs, face and the
chest. My nose was bleeding when I was being carried out of the scene
and rushed to the health centre.”
It would be recalled that the union
executives earlier been accused of misappropriation when it used a
previous disbursement of N3m in June to purchase a bus, that was said to
be worth N900,000.
When contacted, the president asked our correspondent to call back in two hours.
He subsequently refused to pick further calls while text messages sent to him went unanswered.
Emmanuel denied the allegations, saying that he was also injured in the fracas.
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