A 20-year-old University of Lagos student has testified before a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja that a 53-year-old lecturer, Samuel Obinna Ojogbo, sexually assaulted her in his office on the university’s Akoka campus.
The student, giving evidence as the first prosecution witness in Ojogbo’s ongoing trial, told Justice Oyindamola Ogala that the alleged rape occurred on 22 August 2025 at around 12pm. The Lagos State Government is prosecuting Ojogbo on two counts of rape and sexual assault.
Led in evidence by prosecution counsel A.O. Azeez, the witness said the day before the incident – while she was writing an examination – the defendant approached her in the exam hall.
“He asked, ‘Hope it is what I read that came out?’ I said yes,” she recalled. “He told me not to worry and that I should come and see him in his office after my exam.”
She attempted to meet him twice that day but he was not there. The following day, after completing another examination, she encountered the lecturer near her faculty.
“He signalled to me to wait. We then went to his office together,” she said.
Describing the office as “underground, with no window and no secretary”, she told the court that two female students briefly entered to ask about missed tests, but the defendant sent them away, saying they were disturbing him.
As the students left without closing the door properly, the lecturer allegedly asked her to shut it.
“As I went to close it, he stood behind me and pushed me to the couch beside the door,” the witness said, adding through tears: “He started caressing me, touched my breasts, and then forced himself on me. He raped me.”
She testified that afterwards, the defendant promised to supervise her final-year project, copied her examination docket, and took her phone number.
The student said she left the office in tears and immediately reported the matter to a friend. They approached a lecturer, Dr Abu, who contacted her uncle – also a lecturer in the same department. The head of department reportedly suggested they “let it go” and advised her to be more careful around lecturers alone. Her uncle insisted on pursuing the matter.
The case was then reported to the university’s Servicom unit, the medical centre, the Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, and subsequently the police. She was referred to Bariga Police Station and later to WARIF for further tests.
The witness also told the court that the defendant’s family and friends later attempted to arrange a settlement meeting.
Justice Ogala adjourned the matter until 27 April 2026 for cross-examination of the witness.
