THIS STORY WAS FIRST REPORTED BY FIJ
“Is it a crime to be a woman? Is it a crime to live alone? Is it a crime to go out to celebrate a birthday? I hate that the male gender always finds a way out around everything. It’s suffocating knowing I haven’t gotten justice when it’s possible to get it.” – Goodness Adeosun.
On December 9, 2019, Goodness Adeosun turned 21. In 2018, She had spent her 20th birthday in a mental health facility after being sexually assaulted by a University of Ibadan student who happened to be a neighbour. She was instructed to disregard the incident after reporting what had transpired to university officials. She was admitted to University College Hospital, Ibadan (UCH) as a patient with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) following the incident.
On the night of her 21st birthday, She bought a cake and asked some friends over for a get-together but they couldn’t make it. Devastated, she posted a message on her Whatsapp status that night about how she wished her day would end fast. Dr Olugbenga Anthony, a young resident physician at the University of Ibadan College Hospital who recently moved to the UK, saw her updated Whatsapp status and suggested meeting up for drinks.
Dr Olugbenga was in front of her hostel around 8 p.m. Adeosun set out with a batch of old examination questions, seeing as she had a class the following day that needed equal amounts of study time.
Dr Olugbenga suggested they stop at a less boisterous bar in Hotel 411 Bodija, Ibadan, on their way to get a drink. After some drinking and conversing, Adeosun made a departure request. She intended to get ready for the course she was repeating. But Dr Olugbenga offered to assist her with her course revision. He allegedly promised to kiss her for every question she successfully answered while he was reviewing. Adeosun rejected this notion outrightly. Just then, Dr Olugbenga allegedly grabbed her and began kissing her. Adeosun was unable to wriggle free of his hold.
Dr Olugbenga and Adeosun initially spoke on December 7, 2019, after she had missed the ward round since she arrived late to class. Senior Resident physician Dr Lawal advised her to contact Dr Olugbenga for information on what she had missed that day. She said she arrived late because she had to attend to customer deliveries after classes.
Adeosun had aspirations of becoming an accomplished physician and one of the top shoe designers in the world. Acreoss the country, her shoes were being sold.
“He asked to see some of the designs I had made. After I showed him, he picked a design for his wife but wasn’t sure of her size, so he asked for my number to text his wife’s size later on,” she says.
Dr Olugbenga had previously made remarks about Adeosun’s body that bothered her before that particular evening. “I waved them off thinking they were nothing… maybe a mere compliment and I was overthinking. But now I know better,” Adeosun said.
When he allegedly kissed her, at the bar, she tried to explain to him that she had long ago decided to live a celibate life and that it bothered her morally whenever her middle-class devout parents spoke of virginity.
She was unable to acquire proper medical care and social assistance because of a damaged connection with her family, so she had to find money from strangers to pay for her medical care.
She told Dr Olugbenga about a horrible discharge she was still treating on the night of her birthday as she fought to escape his hands. However, Dr Olugbenga allegedly placed her on the bar stool, unbuckled his belt, climbed on top and used his knees to hold her legs together. He only kept repeating, “Don’t worry, forget about it, I love you…Just try to enjoy it,” while she sobbed and pleaded with him. He became enraged when he realised she wasn’t complying and carried her on top of him.
“As you can see, I look very small and I am kind of cachexia, I weigh 45kg and he weighs roughly 87kg, so you can imagine how powerless I was. I was so powerless. I was weak. I tried to scream but it was as if I had lost every strength in me to do so,” FIJ reported.
She could only mutter “please stop” as she sobbed. He responded by saying “Stop struggling, I have to release”. Adeosun was at risk of contracting an STD since Dr Olugbenga did not wear a condom.
There was no one in the bar when he ended the act. The businesses next to the bar were closed, and the bar had faint blue lighting. It was 10 pm. A man who was in the bar had left when the revision started. “I shouted but no one heard me,” she says. “I fought him with all the strength I had in me, but it turned futile because I was eventually overpowered.”
The rape took place at Hotel 411 in Bodija, Ibadan. She was still crying as he finished cleaning himself outside after the forced intercourse, according to Adeosun, and his first inquiry was, “Do you want us to continue the revision?”
“I told him no,” she says. “I wanted to go to my hostel.”
Due to the irritation she was treating, Adeosun could not walk with her legs together. Dr. Olugbenga decided to reserve a hotel room for her for the night after realising how much pain she was in once they were in his car. She originally objected to staying at the hotel, but after much convincing, she gave in. After reserving a room for her, he requested assistance from two hotel staff members in the registration area as he went in search of painkillers for her.
Dr. Olugbenga returned a short while later, but without the medication. He entered the bathroom and emerged somewhat naked. He asked her to get on the bed with him so he could feel her warmth. Adeosun started crying as soon as she realised he would be spending the night in the room with her, and she curled up in a corner of the room.
He pulled her to the bed while holding her hands, then allegedly raped her once more. He stopped when he noticed that she wasn’t breathing normally and masturbated after that. Adeosun was unable to find assistance from anybody and was compelled to remain in the room until 5am, when he took her to her hostel.
Adeosun’s friend questioned Dr. Olugbenga about raping Adeosun, and Dr. Olugbenga claimed he acted in that way because he believed Adeosun wanted it. Additionally, he believed she was merely “forming” for him; however, when he noticed she was not breathing normally, he stopped.
Dr. Adeola refused to comment when contacted by FIJ, claiming he needed approval from the UCH provost before doing so.
On duty was Dr. Olufade Adeniran-Oyerogba. She responded: “I can’t attend to you, this matter is a legal one and it involves my colleague; I’m sorry.” when Adeosun told her that she had been sexually assaulted by Dr. Olugbenga.
Before sending Adeosun off, she gave her some paracetamol and suggested some painkillers to use. When Dr. Oyerogba received a call from FIJ, she hung up the phone after claiming she didn’t understand the question.
After learning about the incident from a coworker, Adeosun’s consultant got in touch with her on December 11, 2020, and brought her to a gynaecologist. Sperm was discovered in her and on the trousers she was wearing that night.
In order to guard against a potential HIV exposure, she was admitted to the hospital and given post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). She started using tramadol daily to prevent migraines after she started taking the medication and experienced migraines as a result.
Dr. Osasogie Iyayi visited Adeosun at the hospital. Before Dr. Iyayi asked Adeosun what she wanted in exchange for keeping quiet about the rape, the latter had never met the former and had no idea what she wanted.
When contacted by FIJ, Dr. Iyayi stated that she had visited Adeosun at the hospital to express her sympathies while serving as the financial secretary of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), to which Dr. Olugbenga belonged.
Adeosun had to repeat the course a second time after being transferred to the mental hospital and missing her final posting test.
A panel was formed on January 9, 2020, to look into the Dr. Olugbenga rape claims. Professor Olayinka Omigbodun, the provost of the University College Hospital, the university’s attorney, two social workers, and Irete Obaitan, a student representative, made up the panel.
A severe vaginal penetration with insemination was discovered during Adeosun’s forensic investigation.
Questions like, “Why wasn’t Adeosun wearing pants that night if she knew she didn’t want anything to do with Dr Olugbenga, ” “How did she know the meaning of ‘doggy’,” “Why were the people she called to pick her up after she was raped mostly guys,” and “How did she get money to get an iPhone” were all asked of her when she appeared before the panel. She had no hope for justice from any of the questions. They were inquiries meant to make her feel even worse.
The panel was suspended on January 27, 2020, however it hasn’t convened since Covid-19. Dr. Iyayi stated to FIJ that the panel’s conclusion is that “there was no rape” (which has not yet been made public or known to the parties). The panel ruled Dr. Olugbenga will be punished suitably for having sex with a medical student but not for rape and urged Adeosun to take care of her mental health issues.
Adeosun posted a thread on Twitter accusing UCH of hiding the findings of her diagnostic tests. The UCH provost was indignant about the negative press the hospital was receiving. However, a number of comments on Adeosun’s thread revealed that Dr. Olugbenga had a history of harassing women.
Following Adeosun’s tweet about the incident, people commented about their interactions with Dr. Olugbenga.
Adeosun’s post received a variety of responses, including a request to remove the thread from a well-known Twitter user named Gbenga Wemimo-Samuel. He identified himself as a lawyer from Sola Adio, another well-known Twitter user known as “Uncle Sola,” and claimed to represent Adeosun. A few days later, Wemimo-Samuel posted on Twitter that Adeosun had initiated contact and had agreed to sleep with Dr. Olugbenga. His thread implied that Adeosun made up the allegation of being raped in order to damage Dr. Olugbenga’s reputation.
Adeosun referred to Wemimo-Samuel’s thread as “hopeless,” “I prayed that day like never before, because I felt like since he had 100k followers on Twitter and was a popular pastor, he had a lot of influence on people.”
After hearing all sides of the story, Wemimo-Samuel told FIJ that he thought Adeosun was lying. He emphasised that he did not know Dr. Olugbenga and only knew him through Uncle Sola.
Uncle Sola was contacted by FIJ, and he provided a different explanation than Wemimo-Samuel. He said that Wemimo-Samuel knew Dr. Olugbenga and that the two of them had gotten in touch with him to implore Adeosun to end the thread and drop the case. He denied requesting that Wemimo-Samuel speak with Adeosun.
In order to convince Goodness Adeosun to withdraw the complaint, he claimed, “I want to categorically state that I never knew this individual to be a lawyer and I never sent him or any lawyer to her.” “That was a very BIG lie. I also never knew Dr Olugbenga from anywhere in my life till allegations surfaced.”
When FIJ contacted Dr. Olugbenga, he acknowledged having “consensual sex” with her but denied raping her. He added that there was a “99 percent chance” that he would file a lawsuit against Adeosun for defaming him and destroying his reputation.
Dr. Olugbenga added that Adeosun’s mother was aware of the truth regarding the occurrence and urged to get in touch with her. When FIJ responded, she refuted Dr. Olugbenga’s assertion that Adeosun had lied. Despite this, she added that given Nigeria’s lengthy legal system, she was willing to settle the dispute amicably between the parties.
“My husband and I have been battling with a case in the court for 15 good years; it’s been one big frustrating roller coaster,” she said. “That case alone has drained life out of my family, I don’t think I have any energy left to pursue another court case when we know that at the end of the day, it is he who has money that will win the case.”
“Most times I hate myself for being small,” Adeosun told FIJ. “Just maybe if I wasn’t this small, I wouldn’t have been taken advantage of or seen as vulnerable. I am not fine, I am dying slowly, I soak my pillows with tears every night.”
“Is it a crime to be a woman? Is it a crime to live alone? Is it a crime to go out to celebrate a birthday? I hate that the male gender always finds a way out around everything. It’s suffocating knowing I haven’t gotten justice when it’s possible to get it.”
A rape has occurred or would occur to one in five women and one in 71 men. More than 700 rape cases have been reported across the nation in the past eight months, yet only a relatively small number of the offenders have been found guilty.
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