OAU union clash: I defended myself with broken bottle to avoid rape – SUG VP

The Vice President of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Students’ Union, Tosin Jacob, says she resorted to using a broken bottle to defend herself during a clash over N3.8m because she feared she might be sexually attacked.

The clash occurred during a meeting on the utilisation of N3.8m recently disbursed to the union by the school management.

Jacob, popularly called Emerald on campus, explained that she was scared of being mobbed or gang-raped, alleging that she had earlier been threatened sexually and physically.


According to her, she had initially attempted to escape from the meeting in which the clash occurred but that the exits were blocked against her.

It would be recalled that Jacob and the Social Director of the union, Adedayo Emmanuel, had engaged in a bloody clash on Tuesday evening.

While Emmanuel, popularly known as Lamba sustained a minor injury, Jacob is currently admitted at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, Ile-Ife, after being allegedly head-butted by  Emmanuel.

She shared her story on hospital bed on Friday, lamenting that other members of the union executives connived against her over her stand against financial mismanagement.

Jacob, who complained that she was molested and assaulted in the meeting, noted that she might have suffered more injuries without self-defence.

She said,

“There was a gang-up. I was detained against my will, taunted, overpowered and severely beaten by Emmanuel in the presence of the president, Ibukun Oyekan, and other union executives.
“The meeting started a few minutes to 7pm. The major issue for discussion was how to spend the N3.8m.There were all kinds of phantom projects being proposed and I was convinced that these projects were just ploys for the diversion of the fund.
“I disagreed with most of the deliberations. The president also instructed that all exits be locked and that I had to be a part of the meeting at all cost.
“I began to raise my voice that I was being held against my will. I insisted I was leaving, and at that point, feeling threatened and unsafe, I got into a struggle with Emmanuel at the door.
“In order to make me comply, he pushed me aggressively several times and at some point hit me and pulled me back. While I was being man-handled, I became conscious that I was the only female in the room. The other union officers were all males and were in agreement and I was the only one opposing their plans in that meeting. They taunted me as Emmanuel hit me.
“I began to scream in alarm, people around the students’ union building heard my voice and made attempts to force their way in, but they were prevented by the president who told them that everything was okay and that a meeting was in session. At this point I became desperate and no longer felt safe at all.
“I began to look for anything around me to defend myself with.
I eventually got hold of a bottle because that was the only thing I could lay hold on in self-defence. People were banging on the door outside so as to come to my aid until the speaker of the parliament found a way to force his way into the room to salvage the situation.
“In the meantime, I had been head-butted, while the bottle had been collected from me while Emmanuel kept hitting me. I sustained injuries in the arm, legs, face and the chest.  My nose was bleeding when I was being carried out of the scene and rushed to the health centre.”

It would be recalled that the union executives earlier been accused of misappropriation when it used a previous disbursement of N3m in June to purchase a bus, that was said to be worth N900,000.


Punch

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