An industrial court in Akure, the Ekiti state capital has ordered the Ekiti State University (EKSU) to reinstate Dr. Ololade Aduwo, a lecturer with the university who was sacked in 2019 for alleged sexual misconduct involving a female student, Rachel Olatosin.
On June 29, 2019, a video was posted on the internet where the female student alongside some of her friends stormed the lecturer's residence at about 9 pm, and molested him on an allegation that he wanted to have an affair with Olatosin. After the video went viral on social media, the university's Governing Council set up an investigative committee to probe Aduwo and subsequently dismissed him.
However, Aduwo in his defense described the incident as a setup by some people who were out to ruin his career and told the court that he was not given a fair hearing before the investigative committee and all the committees of the defendants and as well alleged that the committees did not follow due process.
He sought “an order directing the defendants to publish an advertorial of apology to the claimant in at least three national newspapers in Nigeria”.
Delivering judgment, Justice Kiyersohok Damulak of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, declared that the dismissal of the claimant (Aduwo) from his appointment with the defendants (EKSU) by the letter of 5th December 2019 is wrongful, null, and void and ordered the reinstatement of the lecturer to his employment with full entitlements with the payment of his salaries and allowances from the date of dismissal to the date of judgment today, 8th February 2023. It also ordered EKSU to pay Aduwo the cost of N300,000.
