UNIBEN lecturer Tony Asekhauno accused of sexual harassment of female students

Prof. Tony Asekhauno, a lecturer at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Benin (UNIBEN), has been accused of demanding sexual gratification from female students.

In a statement posted on X on Monday, a former faculty student named Mercy McQuin alleged that Asekhauno exploited her sexually and financially.

She claimed that Asekhauno demanded sex and other financial benefits from her before correcting her final exam paper.

She described Asekhauno as “a very useless and unfortunate man” and claimed that Asekhauno demanded sex from her, harassed her in his office and also confessed to having sex with several girls in the department.

“This man, Tony Asekhauno, is the main reason why I did not collect my certificate!! A very useless and unfortunate man,” she said.

“It was during exam time in my final year. I went to the faculty to get materials for my next exam, and then this guy, a student, came up to me and asked, ‘You are Mercy Daodu, right?’ I said, ‘Yes, and so.’ I thought I was an unremarkable student, so I wondered in my mind, why didn’t this guy find me? Then he replied, ‘Dr. Tony wants to see you.’ I replied, ‘Why?’ The guy seemed relieved and replied, ‘I don’t know, but he asked me to take you to his office.’

“Take me with you, Keh! Okay, I’ll go and meet him when I’m done. The guy is already tired. ‘Noooo, I have to take you to him myself. Please let’s just go and meet him now, then you can go and do whatever you want.’

“Knowing who Dr. Tony was, I declined and assured the guy that I would meet him. Then I started to walk away when this guy suddenly grabbed my hands and was ready to lift me up (actually carry me).

“I finally agreed to follow the guy. As we were on the way to Tony’s office, the guy kept apologizing to me and telling me Tony would refuse to correct his script until he got me to his office. I just thought: Ah! God, Abeg.

“We got to his office and Tony told the boy to go away and not worry anymore. I met other girls in his office that day and he took me to where our script was and showed me mine (he highlighted it); it was unmarked, whereas he had marked others except mine,” she added.

She also stated, “This man told me he wanted to see me before he marked it and I had been avoiding him all these years and I will explain why I avoided him. According to him, he heard my name but never actually met me because I was too smart to try to avoid him.

“This was from 4:00pm to 5:00pm. This man kept me and the other girls in his office talking, drinking and fooling around. He made me stay in his office until 6:00pm and said I would go with him to the staff club (I didn’t know what that was or what they did there). I pleaded with this man and told him that I had only come to pick up some materials and was not prepared for any kind of waka. This man ignored me.

“One of the girls there just told me quietly to follow him; they were going with him too, and I didn’t want to upset him. I held back because my manuscript hadn’t been corrected.”

Miss McQuin admitted that she was still traumatised by the things Asekhauno had done to her.

She mentioned that he took her to his office, showed her his phallus, and demanded that she kiss him or he would make sure she didn’t get her degree.

“You see, just remembering it traumatizes me all over again.

“Or was it when that man showed me his smelly, dirty little dick in his office? Or when that man asked me to call him ‘Erama’ because he found out his wife was from my hometown and said that’s what they call elders in my country, or whatever that means.

“Or is it when I save money just to buy this man alcohol so he won’t even think about wanting to sleep with me? Or is it when I almost pay prostitutes to help me sleep with him so he won’t be on my side? Or was it when that man tried to kiss me with his dirty and smelly mouth!?

“Or is it when this man tells me that he slept with almost all the girls in my department and I was nothing special? Or is it the constant reminder from this man that without his involvement, I will never be able to graduate?” McQuin explained.

The traumatized former student of the institution also called on God to publicly “embarrass” Asekhaunoor all the things he makes his students do.

“Whatever God wants to do on this earth, all I know is that He must punish and publicly expose this man named Tony Asekhauno. A bastard with many fathers,” she added.

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