NNAMDI Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka, has constituted a committee to investigate an allegation of attempted sexual misconduct involving a professor and a female at the institution, after videos of the incident and subsequent assault of the lecturer went viral on social media.
The Director of Information and Public Relations of UNIZIK, Aloysius Attah disclosed this to The ICIR on Monday, identifying the lecturer in the video as Ifeanyi Odinye, who teaches at the Department of Chinese Studies, Faculty of Arts.
He noted that the university had yet to establish the identity of the student.
“It happened on a Saturday, and we know it’s a weekend. Every action about the whole thing is just being activated this morning. A committee has been set up to investigate,” Attah said.
The controversy followed the circulation of at least two videos with a caption accompanying the footage alleging that the man was a lecturer who had sexually harassed the female student.
“A lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK) has reportedly been accused of sexually assaulting a female student. According to reports, the student escaped after packing the lecturer’s clothes. He was later confronted and beaten by students,” the caption read.
In another video seen by The ICIR, which could not be published because of its graphic content, a young woman, later identified as a student of the university, is seen walking towards the camera while carrying what appeared to be a man’s clothes.
Behind her, a naked man is seen attempting to leave the scene and hide himself.
Moments later, several young men rush towards the man and begin beating him as the situation descends into chaos.
The university’s spokesperson told The ICIR that the committee would investigate what transpired and make recommendations to the university management, noting that security agencies were already involved because the assault on the lecturer had a criminal dimension.
“Every other thing will be followed up. Security agencies are already involved also because there are the assault and the criminal dimension of it and the rest of it,” he said.
Attah said the lecturer was receiving treatment at a hospital and had yet to make an official statement on the incident.
He also said he had not been fully briefed on the circumstances surrounding the incident because the investigation had only just begun.
“I wasn’t at the scene. I have not even been fully briefed about the whole incident,” he said. He promised to visit the lecturer at the hospital to obtain further information.
Asked to provide the identities of the lecturer and student involved, Attah said the university had yet to establish the identity of the student.
“I have not gotten the identity of the student involved but the lecturer, is Professor Ifeanyi Sunny Odinye,” he added.
Information obtained by The ICIR on UNIZIK’s website identifies Odinye as a professor in the Department of Chinese Studies, Faculty of Arts. It describes him as the first indigenous professor of Chinese language and linguistics in Nigeria and Africa.
The university’s website also identifies Odinye as the pioneer head of the Department of Chinese Studies at the institution.
Attah said UNIZIK had a sexual harassment policy and channels through which students could report complaints, adding that the Dean of Student Affairs is a unit responsible for addressing students’ welfare-related complaints.
“Their channels are open for reports against any negative incidents, whether involving fellow students or lecturers,” he said.
According to him, complaints brought before the university are referred to management through appropriate committees, which consider the issues and recommend decisions or sanctions where necessary.
Student Affairs page on the school’s website similarly states that its unit handles students’ personal complaints and concerns, with a stated commitment to confidentiality.
The university had previously published official guidance encouraging students to report sexual harassment, noting that its action plan identifies sexual harassment by lecturers as an issue requiring reporting and says such cases should be discreetly investigated.
Gender Mobile Initiative, a gender-rights organisation, in a statement issued on Monday, condemned both the alleged sexual misconduct and the physical assault of the lecturer.
“Violence, mob action, and the taking of the law into one’s hands cannot be a substitute for justice,” the organisation said.
It argued that the two issues should not be allowed to cancel each other out: allegations of sexual misconduct must be investigated seriously, while an accused person must not be subjected to mob justice.
The UNIZIK incident has also renewed questions about why students increasingly turn to social media when they experience or witness sexual harassment.
Gender Mobile Executive Lead, Omowumi Ogunrotimi, said students’ decisions to go public may be influenced by their experiences or perceptions of how universities handle sexual harassment complaints, which could instead reflect a deeper crisis of confidence in institutional accountability systems.
“From our years of working with students and institutions on sexual harassment prevention and accountability, I would be cautious about interpreting the increasing use of social media as simply a preference for “public shaming” over formal reporting. In many cases, it is a reflection of a deeper crisis of trust in institutional accountability systems,” Ogunrotimi said.
The sexual harassment expert said that having a sexual harassment policy or committee on paper does not necessarily mean students consider the system safe or effective.
She explained that students are less likely to use formal reporting mechanisms when they do not know where to report an incident, what happens after a complaint is made, how long an investigation will take, or whether they will be protected from retaliation.
“Where previous cases have been poorly handled, delayed, suppressed, dismissed, or resolved in ways perceived to favour powerful actors, those experiences become institutional memory,” added.
She said the growing number of sexual harassment allegations appearing first on social media should, therefore, be treated as a warning signal for universities.
“It may be telling institutions that the problem is not that students have suddenly become unwilling to use formal systems. It may be that formal systems have not yet earned their trust,” she said.
Ogunrotimi urged universities to demonstrate that complaints can be made safely, investigated independently and resolved within reasonable timelines, while protecting survivors from retaliation and ensuring procedural fairness for all parties.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.