Education

‘Victim not our student,’ OAU disowns viral news of rape, robbery incident

Authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, disowned the viral news in the media on Tuesday, claiming that one of its undergraduate students was raped and robbed by a commercial motorcyclist, known as Okada, along Ife-Moro Road in the state.

The institution, through its Public Relations Officer, Mr Abiodun Olanrewaju, in a statement in Osogbo, distanced itself from the news; it said the lady does not have an affiliation with the university.

According to him, “the attention of the authorities of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, has been drawn to a viral news item in which a commercial motorcyclist, known as Okada, was alleged to have raped and robbed his female passenger.”

“Although the female passenger engaged the services of the Okada rider in front of the university main gate along Ife-Ede road, going to Moro, a nearby town, the motorcyclist, later identified as Damilare Jacob, suddenly diverted into the bush, where he raped the young lady and then robbed her of her belongings.”

“The victim (lady) did not have any affiliation with the prestigious University.
We have done our due diligence and the outcome of our painstaking investigation revealed that no OAU student, within or outside the campus, was involved in any form of rape or robbery”.

“Accordingly, we implored the general public, especially the parents and guardians of our students, to disregard, in its entirety, the said news item.”

“In fact, our university is not in session, and all our students, with a few exceptions, have been on holiday for almost a month now.”

“We hereby appeal to our colleagues in the media who are partners-in-progress to always verify the authenticity of their stories, particularly when Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, is involved,” he submitted.

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