PRINCIPAL:
When I resumed work as principal here, I was told of a certain matron who housed a person that had attempted to have an affair with a student. I was not here when it happened but as soon as I was told, I made sure that the matron was moved out of the school premises. I have zero tolerance for such behaviour. I have a daughter who schools here, even before I began work here. I will not take chances.
As I talk to you, no single parent has come to me or any of my Vice-Principals to report Olaseni as a molester. I assure you that if the allegation was true, other parents would have been buzzing our lines non-stop. Children spread gossip fast. They would tell their parents or relations, if anyone was molesting them here. No parent would take such news lightly. When this news reached me, I summoned an emergency meeting of all the critical stakeholders. We all discussed before inviting Mr Osifala. Every one of my staff says positive things about the man. Of course they were all here (Queens College) before me, so they are qualified to assess members of staff properly.
Personally, even before I resumed, a former principal of Kings College had recommended Olaseni as a credible person to work with. His name is Otunba Dele Olapeju. He is a highly respectable man. Let us not forget that Olaseni worked with five different principals, all of who also told me good words about him, despite the various allegations against him.
I have investigated and we are not relenting in our determination to get to the bottom of this case. The man in question has been of impeccable character and committed service since I resumed work here. I can vouch for him.
When I resumed work here, I was told a few unsavoury things about him. But investigations showed that each time a new principal resumed at Queens College, these allegations popped up. They would tell every new principal that Mr Olaseni is a molester. But after investigations, nothing concrete came up. My predecessor, whom we just sent forth today, told me the same thing. So it has been a recurring decimal, these allegations.
We have come to understand that some persons are on a campaign of calumny against this teacher. Yet, he is the best teacher in our school. During World Teachers’ Day, he bagged five awards. The students all have good things to say about him. Somebody somewhere is up to some mischief and we will uncover this unfortunate drama.
We place a premium on the security and welfare of our girls. We are all mothers. We will not allow any staff to endanger girls in this school.
I urge the general public to always endeavour to confirm the stories they read on social media. Not everything they read there is true.
I have quietly observed Olaseni over time. I have X-rayed his relationship with students and I have not found him wanting. The same students he has been accused of molesting, are the ones who voted him their best teacher.
The PTA Chairman is an external person, and she attests to the character of the accused teacher. It did not take long for me to see why the past principals recommended him. He is extremely committed to his job and some people are ready to bring him down.
I read the story on social media. I trust the public to read between the lines. There are too many inconsistencies with the story. Nothing is hidden in this school. If, like the story said, students came out at night to boo the molester, do you think that before dawn, the story would not have spread like wild fire? And for a whole month, nobody reported to me? It is not possible.
There are approved channels of communication here. If the parent actually went to the Vice-Principal and was turned down, did the person ever come to me? No parent here can ever say that they are afraid of coming to me. Yet I never heard of this story until today. That is not possible.
Again, a part of the story alleged that one of my Vice-Principals threatened the parent to go to Abuja, and that nothing will come out of it. I smiled when I read that part. No right thinking person would have made such a comment. I have been here long enough to know what each one of my staff are capable of saying. There is no way an administrator of her calibre would say that.
This seems like an attempt to ridicule, not just Mr Olaseni, but the hard-earned reputation of Queens College. We are consulting with relevant stakeholders and we will get to the bottom of this.
AKHETUAMEN B.E (Mrs):
I am the Chairperson of the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA). I represent the best interests of parents of the children in this school. I have two daughters schooling here. After six years in the school, I should be able to trust them to intimate me about things that happen in the school, especially when I ask. They have made it clear to me, no such thing occurred. Meanwhile, no parent has called me to make any such allegation against the teacher in question and I find it very strange.
I know Olaseni as a teacher who has respect for constituted authority. Knowing how the school community works, I assure you that if such a thing has happened, the students themselves would have given the matter leverage. It would not have needed a blogger to break the story. There is a policy against use of phones in the college but we hear rumours that some students smuggle in phones. Do you imagine that such students would not have called their parents with the gist? And for all this time that the event allegedly occurred (one month now) do you think that no parent would have raised eyebrows?
When I asked my daughter about this story, she said she only started hearing about it today. I am an Edo woman, I speak from my heart because I fear only God. Even if I face anybody now, I can defend him (Olaseni) authoritatively. I have always recommended him to every principal that was posted here. Even the current principal will confirm that I spoke positively about this teacher to her. He always seeks to correct everything going wrong within the school. He is fearless. He never abdicates his duties and I say this with a sense of pride.
I wonder who would want to pull him down. We are looking into this matter and we will involve the Police.
VICE-PRINCIPAL (SENIOR SCHOOL):
These are all false allegations. Even with some past principals, similar allegations were made against the young man. Yet they all worked happily and successfully with him, enough to make them recommend him to their successors. Even the principal we are sending forth today, Mrs Osime, can clarify this. It is all crooked lies.
How can you make such a weighty allegation and not be able to tell us who the child is? And if you see what is written in the allegation, you will know that they are all lies. For starters, Mr Olaseni does not live on the school premises. So how can he be responsible for molesting a child by 2am? Again, he teaches Biology. The story says he teaches Integrated Science. That is a lie. He also does not teach junior school as alleged in the story. Biology is offered in the senior school. To the best of our knowledge, Olaseni does not drink alcohol. So there are some fundamental lies that already give away the fact that someone is being funny somewhere.
We have investigated. We tried to find out from our boarding house mistresses about the said event, one month ago. You can ask around at your own convenience, there is no record of such a thing.
About the allegation that I told the parent to go to Abuja, how is that possible? How can I tell a parent that, when no parent has even come to me with such a report? Did I threaten a ghost?
The story also said that the alleged ‘victim’ tried to call her mother that night. Since phones are not even allowed in the school, how is that possible? We do not know yet, the alleged parent nor the student.
Our investigations continue.
SENIOR BOARDING HOUSE MISTRESS:
I am Mrs D. A Oludinmu. I am the senior boarding house mistress of Queens College, Yaba. Yes, I admit that Mr Olaseni comes around the hostel because he is the Hostel Maintenance Officer. But there is a procedure for that. He never comes without the permission of the principal and even during emergencies, he does not come alone. The principal still has to permit him, and he always comes with the maintenance boys.
Mr Olaseni does not come to the hostel outside working hours. I can vouch for him.
HEAD GIRL:
The story has it that Mr Osifala lives in the school compound. No male staff lives within. They also said they saw our teacher with alcohol after lights out. This cannot be true because he speaks against alcohol in class. He is our Biology teacher, not Integrated Science.
Knowing him from J.S.S 1 to S.S. 3 now, I can say that the allegations are wrong. No, I just heard the story this morning. My statement cannot be doctored.
Yes, we complain to him when we have problems in the hostel. These problems include bad electric bulbs, water problems, etc.
OLASENI (THE ACCUSED):
I am worried about this matter because there is no truth in it. It is not the first time I have been accused falsely. Students have openly confessed to being recruited to frame me up in the past. The teachers were there. They can tell you the truth. All I want is to be the best teacher I possibly can. The reason I always win the awards is a function of my drive for excellence.
It ensures that I am always busy. My work is not secret. I am an open book. I know that whatever I say now will not matter to those who have made up their minds to judge me. Let God take control.
MY TAKE:
I also spoke with other vice-principals but their testimonies were basically the same as others above. I was told too, that current Miss Nigeria, Unoaku Anyadike, is an alumni of the school. Last week, she visited her former school and on sighting Mr Olaseni, referred to him as the best Biology teacher ever.
From a very neutral point, I think that there are a lot of holes on both sides. I will pick out a few.
THE ALLEGATION
1. How can someone be diligent enough to make such an allegation, but be so careless as not to know what subject the teacher teaches?
2. Apparently, the allegation of drunkenness was made to give weight to the story. It is established that the man does not drink.
3. How can any normal parent whose kid has been molested, stop at having a verbal exchange with one vice-principal and does not go to the principal nor the Police?
4. Why did the parent not lodge an official complaint with the school? That is an elementary error.
5. Why did it take one month to break this story? And why on social media rather than the relevant agencies?
6. Why is the said parent not mentioned in the story? Given that he/she has already decided to withdraw the daughter from Queens College, there is nothing to lose by openly facing the school authorities over such a serious matter.
7. I read most of the alleged victims of the man. They all have nothing actionable to say. All I have read are comments like, “So the girls wey you sleep with that time never do you?” and “He is evil. I stopped going to class because of him.” These do not establish anything. At best, they are very vague attempts at directing the flow of public opinion. Only one lady specifically mentioned that Mr Olaseni touched her breasts and butt. But even she does not remember what subject he taught her during the JAMB prep classes. How do you remember butt pressing but conveniently forget the subject that led to it?
8. Have you noticed that all of the people staking their integrity on this man are mothers who, ordinarily, should be wary of men with such history? Yet they stand for him so valiantly. Is it possible for outsiders to know him better than people who work with him daily?
9. Why, despite the repeated attacks and allegations against him, do successive principals choose to work with him instead? And he gets recommendations from some highly respected folks too.
10. This is important. The blogger said that she received a mail from the parent of the molested child. Perhaps, it is time to show us the original mail as received inbox. During the sugabelly rape allegation, we did see the necessary mails. Let us see this one as well. Anybody can type a story and claim that they received mails.
THE DEFENCE
1. Why is it, for years now, that Mr Olaseni has been the consistent target of sex-related charges and rumours? Is he the only male teacher in the school?
2. How come he has not gotten to the root of the matter by identifying the alleged ‘insider’ trying to pull him down?
3. Why is it that so many ladies are claiming to know him by negative reputation?
4. When prodded, he infers that envy is the reason why some “fellow teachers and staff” hate him enough to plot his downfall. When I pushed further, his only suspect is no longer based in Nigeria. How convenient to point at a person who is not available to defend herself?
5. I noticed that everybody gave an almost perfect representation of who Olaseni is. Not even one dissenting voice, not one person to diminish the picture of perfection.
6. Of course, I cannot hold very firmly to the testimony of students who stood before their school’s management to give me their views about a teacher who was also present. It is not a secret that such cases can be doctored as part of damage control.
7. Could it be that Olaseni is a perfect man as pictured, or is he an expert at pulling the wool over our eyes?
8. Olaseni is the most decorated teacher in this school. How has he maintained such consistent ratings? Could it be that he has been buying awards? I am told that he is a very generous man. I hope he is not ‘generously’ buying up laurels. I don’t know about you but I have an issue with people who have squeaky clean profiles.
I will urge the parents of the molested child to vigorously pursue this matter, not just for their daughter’s sake, but to ensure that other kids do not fall victim of lewd paedophiles. They owe posterity that much.
Queens College has to ensure proper investigations into these allegations and come up with a transparent report. Thankfully, the principal is very welcome to the idea of transparent handling of this matter.
Having read the ‘facts’ presented by both sides, only an independent inquiry can deal with this. Anything else would be subjective. As of this moment, I sit on the fence.
It is open secret that molestation occurs in schools. It is also known that blackmail and set up occurs as well. May truth be revealed speedily.
culled from www.mikeilesblog.com
Na wa for this story. You interview everyone in a group and you are surprised the story would be thesame
ReplyDeleteSee o
DeleteAunty Mysparklediva I understand that you are trying to stay neutral but pls try a little harder.see ehen,evil people are the smartest! Pity that they never use this evil for good.
ReplyDeleteHave you considered the following;
*The parent's need to protect her allegedly abused child? Oh the torture!
*The people who have been abused actually bury the horrid memory in the depths of their soul.Hence they may never remember with Accuracy the events ie the subject the teacher taught.
*Only Uncle Oshisko waka come?
*Loads of people have said he flirted with them...how do U explain a teacher flirting with students who are trying to decipher their sexual it?
*Sometimes when there's a cover up...the victim who lacks resilience looks evil
My two pence is THERE'S NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE!