A University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) student who allegedly assaulted a female lecturer has explained why he did so.
Salaudeen Waliu, alias Captain Walz, a final-year student of the Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, said that Mrs Rahmat Zakariyau was the first to get violent after an altercation broke out between them.
Salaudeen claimed to have gone to the office of the female lecturer to beg her to help wave the mandatory Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme course which he missed due to unforeseen circumstances, an on-campus journal, University Campus Journalist (UCJ-Ilorin), reported.
He claimed to have met Mrs Zakariyau numerous times but all led to negative responses before last Thursday’s assault on the lecturer.
Salaudeen claimed that “months before last Thursday’s incident, he was arrested and locked up for two months, thereby warranting his inability to attend SIWES duties,” UCJ-Ilorin wrote in a report.
He said he had gone to Allen Avenue in Ikeja, Lagos State, to meet a friend for the first time. He was waiting for the friend when according to him, he “felt the urge to urinate.”
Salaudeen said he urinated near a car parked by drainage when he was challenged by someone who must have washed the car.
He reportedly said he was accused of being a thief and was not allowed to explain himself before a mob descended on him, meted out jungle justice, and handed him over to the police which led to his detention for a period of two months.
The final-year student reportedly said that after the incident in Lagos, he approached Mrs Zakariyau to explain to her his ordeal but the lecturer said there was no help to offer, except he joined the next set which would result in an extra year.
He said on the fateful Thursday when he entered the lecturer’s office, she ordered him out of her office.
“I got angry, I don’t know what came over me, I started arguing and she told me to leave her office, I told her if I don’t leave, what is she going to do?
“She then threw a mug at me which injured me and I started beating her,” he was quoted to have said.
Salaudeen said the female lecturer did not fight back, so he went on to beat her and later dragged her out of her office to continue the beating, according to the UCJ-Ilorin report.
“I dragged her out and she ran. I chased and kept beating her before people came. I tried to run but was later caught by the school security,” he was quoted to have stated.
Salaudeen reportedly said these in the security cell of the institution where he was locked up since he was returned from ‘F’ Divisional Police station, Tanke in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.