Ololade Adeyanju/
Prof Richard Akindele, a former lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) has bagged 2-year jail term for demanding sex to pass a student, Monica Osagie.
Justice Maureen Onyekenu, at a Federal High Court in Osun State, gave the order after Akindele changed his plea from not guilty to guilty.
The convict will serve his sentence in Ilesa prison, due to the magnitude of the offence he committed “which is prevalent in the country”.
Onyekenu had earlier rejected an appeal for a suspended sentence and plea bargain by the defendant’s counsel, Mr Francis Omotosho, noting that suspended sentence and plea bargain should be premised on public interest.
She decried the gravity of the offence the convict committed, adding that someone must be used as a scapegoat to address the issue of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions.
The defence counsel had earlier pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing his client.
The lecturer was first arraigned before Justice Maureen Onyekenu on November 19 by the ICPC on four counts of alteration of age and demanding sex to pass his student.
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