A 20-year-old University of Lagos undergraduate has given harrowing testimony before an Ikeja High Court, detailing how she was allegedly sexually assaulted by her lecturer, Dr. Samuel Ojogbo, inside a windowless underground office on campus.
The student, led in evidence by State Counsel Owolabi Azeez, told the court that the alleged incident occurred on August 22, 2025, a day after her lecturer first asked her to see him following an examination he had supervised.
According to the student, Dr. Ojogbo invited her to his underground office — a room with no windows and no secretary present. After briefly discussing the exam, he dismissed two other students who had entered, then instructed her to shut the door.
“As I closed it, he stood behind me, pushed me onto a couch and began touching me,” she told the court, breaking down in tears. “He caressed me, forced himself on me and raped me.”
She testified that after the assault, the lecturer told her he would supervise her final-year project and requested her phone number. She said she left in tears and immediately confided in a friend.
The student further recounted how her attempts to seek institutional help were met with discouragement. After reporting to a fellow lecturer, who then contacted her uncle — also a lecturer in the department — the matter was brought before the Head of Department. Rather than taking action, she said the HOD questioned why she had not recorded the incident and ultimately advised her to “let it go and be more careful with lecturers.”
Her uncle, however, refused to drop the matter. The family subsequently filed a complaint with Servicom and visited the university’s medical centre. The student later reported the incident to the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, which referred her to Bariga Police Station and the Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) for medical testing. The case was eventually transferred to the police gender unit.
The student also disclosed that the defendant’s family later reached out seeking a private settlement.
Justice Oyindamola Ogala adjourned proceedings to April 27 for cross-examination of the witness.
Dr. Ojogbo faces a two-count charge of sexual assault and rape, filed by the Lagos State Government. Prosecutors say the alleged offences violate Sections 260 and 263(1) of the Lagos State Criminal Law, 2015 — provisions that carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment upon conviction.