By IBUKUN EMIOLA

Management of Ajayi Crowther University (ACU), Oyo, has launched an investigation into the alleged rape of a female student of the institution by two security officers.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the incident was said to have happened on Thursday evening.

Although the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Femi Atoyebi, told NAN on Friday that the allegation was not true, he, however, said that the matter was being investigated.

The allegation, NAN gathered, was that one of the students, who was strolling around the campus to get fresh air around 8 p.m. on Thursday, was raped by two of the university’s security personnel.

However, a source within the institution had a different account of the incident.

The source told NAN that the student in question was having fun with her boyfriend when they both got caught by one of the institution’s security officers.

“But, instead of reporting the incident, the security officer requested to be paid money so as to prevent the matter from being reported to the authorities.

“However, the arrangement boomeranged, as the boy ran away and later called on his colleagues, alleging that a security officer was raping one of the students.

“Whereas the lady had transferred N1,500 to the security personnel as negotiated, the boyfriend, however, refused to pay his own money and instead, raised the alarm on the alleged rape,” the source said.

The situation was said to have generated tension among the students, some of whom accused the school authorities of not showing enough concern for their welfare in the campus.

NAN gathered that, as a matter of policy, male students are not permitted to visit the female hostels and vice versa in order to prevent sexual intimacy while on campus.

This has, however, resulted in many students staying in dark corners and lavatories within the campus to have intimacy with one another.

But, in an official statement entitled: “ACU investigates alleged rape of a female student, the institution’s management said it received with shock the report of the alleged rape of the female student on Thursday night by two members of the vigilance group.

Atoyebi, who issued the statement, said the school authorities had handed over the two people alleged to have committed the act to the police.

He said that they had been transferred to the state police headquarters for further investigation.

“The university has also set up its own internal panel of inquiry to investigate the allegation.

“The management wishes to assure all stakeholders that ACU will not tolerate any act of misconduct capable of tarnishing its enviable image.

“Raising Godly intellectuals is our primary goal in ACU and we will not allow any act of misconduct capable of diverting our attention from our goal.

“Heavy penalty awaits anyone who is found culpable after our thorough investigation,” he said. (NAN)

•Rape image used for illustration purposes only

Update news