Last updated on July 25th, 2021 at 07:30 am
This post contains everything you want to know about Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu, a lecturer at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), who was caught in a documentary video demanding sex from a camouflaged student.
The sex-for-grades documentary was done by BBC Africa where an undercover journalist, Kiki Mordi, disguised as a 17-year-old admission seeker.
Below is the highlight:
- UNILAG indicted in sexforgrades documentary video
- What they do at cold room in UNILAG staff club
- Foursquare Gospel Church fires Boniface Igbeneghu from ministerial activities
- We’ve suspended him-UNILAG VC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has in a documentary exposed the prestigious University of Lagos (UNILAG) in sex for grades allegation.
In the 13:44 minutes, video clip released a few hours ago, the documentary exposed the sexual escapades of university lecturers in Nigeria and Ghana.
One of the academic staff members of UNILAG Dr Boniface Igbeneghu was caught in the act and has been described as one of the predators in the institution where female students are at the mercy of male teachers who intimidate them.
Boniface Igbeneghu, an acclaimed pastor and lecturer at the UNILAG in the video clip was caught on camera making sexual demands to offer admission to a ‘student’ in a documentary by BBC Africa where an undercover journalist, Kiki Mordi, disguised as a 17-year-old admission seeker. Her mother Joy Mordi has hailed the audacious investigation.
The documentary is part of a broader one that uncovers the sex for grade crises in West African Universities, that covers a university in Ghana and Nigeria.
It’s a huge problem in higher institutions in Nigeria. But female students hardly speak out for fear of being failed.
Who is Boniface Igbeneghu?
According to the documentary, the lecturer, Boniface Igbeneghu, is a former sub-dean of Faculty of Art and head pastor of local Foursquare Gospel Church.
He called in the girl in the video clip prayed for her and at their first meeting asked: “how old are you?”.
After responding, the lecturer started commenting on her appearance.
Boniface Igbeneghu said:
“Don’t you know you are a beautiful girl? Do you know I am a pastor and I am in my 50s but if I want a girl of 17 years, all I need is a sweet tongue and put some money?”
From the documentary published on Facebook by BBC and seen by InfomediaNG, the lecturer invited the ‘student’ for a second meeting where they held prayer sessions together.
Immediately after the prayer, he simply asked: “what age do you start knowing men. Be assured that your mother will not hear.”
Cold Room Experience in UNILAG
The undercover reporter also got a critical lesson from Mr. Igbeneghu who described the secret place where lecturers meet to “touch students breasts” at the staff club of the university as a “cold room.”
“They call the place cold room,” he said. He then explained that ladies must pay to have good grades. And attempted to experiment with the cold room experience with the undercover admission seeker.
He later told the undercover journalist that if she truly wants admission in UNILAG, “she must be obedient”.
“Do you want me to kiss you? Switch of the light, lock the door and I will kiss you for a minute. That’s what they do in the cold room,” Boniface Igbeneghu told her.
At a time, he asked the admission seeker to go lock the door and off the light but when she didn’t respond, the lecturer went to the bathroom and upon his return, he locked the door, switched off the light, and embraced the ‘admission seeker’.
He told her, “You are too stiff. I can call you to come any day. If you don’t come, you know you are gone,” he threatened the undercover journalist.
A common phenomenon in UNILAG
Sex for grades is gradually becoming a common phenomenon in UNILAG. It’s barely a year after a student of the Department of English accused a professor of the same university of sexual harassment.
Recall that in May 2018, Joy Nwanna, a student of the institution, accused a professor of English, Olusegun Awonusi, of “habitual sexual harassment”.
Prof. Awonusi is a former Vice-Chancellor of Tai Solarin University of Education, of “habitual sexual harassment”.
UNILAG:
The university authority is yet to react to the damaging sex for a marks video documentary, but when contacted, the university spokesperson, Taiwo Oloyede, told BBC that the institution has zero tolerance for a sex scandal.
In 2018, a professor at another Federal University Prof Richard Iyiola Akindele at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, was caught in the same act. He was sacked by the university authority after he was found guilty.
Female students have a bitter experience to tell about sex for grades in Nigeria’s higher institutions.
BBC has therefore opened a complaint form for female students to report sexual harassment for immediate action.
Foursquare Gospel Church fires Boniface Igbeneghu
Meanwhile, Foursquare Gospel Church where Dr Igbeneghu is serving as a part-time pastor has been asked to step aside from all activities of the church.
A statement signed by the National Secretary of the church Rev. Ikechukwu Ugbaja said,
“The attention of the leadership of The Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria has been drawn to a video clip trending on social media platforms titled ‘Sex for grades: Undercover in West Africa Universities – BBC News’ wherein a lecturer in the University of Lagos named Dr. Boniface Igbeneghu also described as a pastor in Foursquare Gospel Church was allegedly involved in sexual misconduct with some female students of the University,” the statement read.
“The general public is hereby informed that as a holiness and Bible-believing Church, we do not condone such heinous and unscriptural act among our ministers. We totally dissociate ourselves from the purported conduct of Dr. Igbeneghu and promise to take appropriate measures as soon as the ongoing investigation is concluded.
“Meanwhile, the pastor in question has been asked to step down from all ministerial assignments.”
Dr Igbeneghu is yet to react to the trending video.
UNILAG suspends him
In the meantime, the randy lecturer cum pastor has been suspended by the authority of the University of Lagos.
His suspension was the first official reaction of the institution to the damning sex for grade video, his church was the first to react by asking him to step aside till investigations were completed.
UNILAG Vice-Chancellor Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, confirmed the development to newsmen that Dr Boniface had been suspended indefinitely. ”A panel will be set up to investigate the issue,” he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned sex for grades act, calling on school management to make sure that perpetrators of sexual abuse against female students are brought to book.
NEWS#SexForGrades: Dr Boniface Igbeneghu Alleges BBC Set Him Up
The documentary titled “Sex For Grades” focused on two prominent universities, University of Lagos (Nigeria) and the University of Ghana where some undercover journalists posing as students secretly filmed their interactions with some lecturers that have sexual harassment allegations trailing them.
Dr Boniface Igbeneghu, a former sub-dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos was one of those caught in the scandal. He is also a pastor of a local church, Foursquare Gospel Church.
Dr Boniface Igbeneghu | Photo – Facebook
He was caught on tape making sexual advances at an undercover journalist posing as a 17-year-old secondary school graduate seeking admission into the Department of European Languages and Integrated Studies where Igbeneghu lectures.
Following the release of the tape that was met with tons of mixed reaction and a call for the suspension and probe of the indicted lecturers, Igbeneghu has taken to his Facebook page to deny the allegations of any wrongdoing.
In a Facebook post, Igbeneghu, a man of God alleged that the BBC set out to set him up as he is innocent and his God is bigger than them.
He wrote:
“#BBC or whatever they call themselves set me up. My God is bigger than them.
#SexForGrades
#IAmInnocent”
