Alleged sexual assault: N100m suit instituted against FRCN executive director

Jim Osanyande Obazee

A N100 million suit has been filed against the Executive Director (ED) of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), Dr. Jim Osanyande Obazee, by a former staff of the council, Pastor (Mrs) Abimbola Patricia Yakubu, before a Lagos division of the National Industrial Court sitting in Ikoyi over allegation of sexual assault.

According to the suit which also joined the FRCN as a co-defendant, Pastor Yakubu alleged that Dr. Obazee had on several occasion harassed her with serial acts of sexual advances and seduction with attendant trauma and emotional trauma; even as she also challenged the termination of her appointment.

In a 54-paragraph statement of fact initiated before the court by a human rights lawyer, Hilary Oshoma on behalf of the woman clergy, Pastor Yakubu told the court presided over by Justice Oyewunmi O that she was given an offer of appointment by the council on February 28, 2008, as Deputy Manager Administration on grade level 10 step 2 and that through hard work and performance, earned promotion to Grade level 12 step 2.

The complainant added that during the period under review, she had worked in the Administrative Department and Library until 2010, when she was deployed to the Executive Director's office headed by Obazee.

Pastor Yakubu further told the judge that before she was deployed, she was serving in the Administrative and Library department, while the Executive Director, Dr. Obazee, was the then Technical Director. The woman clergy alleged that she was on several times and instances met with, and subjected to incessant seductive, infidel and serious compliments and gestures by Obazee.

The former council staff told the National Industrial Court that upon her continuous refusal, Obazee allegedly resorted to what she termed unnecessarily harassment and would not mind scolding her over mundane issues even at a time when she was heavily pregnant of her 3rd baby.

The woman pastor further argued that she had tried all within her reach to avoid the FRCN boss until when she was deployed to the library unit which she maintained is one of the units under the direct headship of Obazee. She explained further that this provided him the opportunity to further pester her for seduces advances, saying he always comes to the Library not to read, but to indulge in endless gist with her and thereafter invite her to his office for promiscuous and obscene talk.

Pastor Yakubu equally revealed that when Dr. 0bazee became the acting Executive secretary before his appointment was confirmed in July 2010, he had ordered her deployment from library to the Executive Director's office as the Executive Office Manager.

The complainant stated further in the suit that no sooner had she resumed that the defendant heightened his sexual advances to the extend of condescending to what she termed the abysmal and ridiculous level of kneeling down to beg her to offer him sex, professing that he had always loved her and that her love is really eating him up.

She further informed the court that in a bid to achieve his plot and desires of having sex with her, scripted and profiled the claimant to travel round the country together with him purportedly on official duties to places like calabar, Uyo, Enugu, Ibadan, Ijebu -Ode, Abuja and Minna.

The plaintiff insisted that where in all of the times after parties have retired to their hotel rooms, the FRCN boss would either call or invite her to come over to his room or that he shall be coming to her room, but in all these she had at all times successfully rebuffed the defendant.

The pastor equally told the court that during the council's press retreat in December 2012, at Akodo, the Executive Director came to her room to beg for sex but she resisted and advised him to re-channel all his love and affection to his wife, adding that after the retreat he made her redundant at work by assigning all her work schedules to her subordinates and refused her all privileges.

She also stated that on Friday, May 24, 2013, she received a letter of transfer from Lagos to FRCN liaison desk at the Corporate Affair Commission, in Kaduna, which subsequently led Obazee to scrap the office of the Executive office manager which she had occupied.

 According to the plaintiff, "I accepted and complied with the punitive transfer in good faith, even, without due allowances paid to me. Few days  after my resumption in Kaduna, I received a memo directing me to report to a grade level 08  officer and on no account should I be granted the indulgence to leave my  duty post without clearance from my  junior who in turn must receive directive from Jim 0bazee directly in Lagos. This he boasted would frustrate me to resign from the employment of FRCN."

The woman pastor therefore wants the court to issue a mandatory order directing the FRCN to reinstate her or in the alternative to Pay her N24,594,836.04 being her salaries and other entitlement for 28years from October until retirement age of 60 years.

She also want the judge to award a damage sum to the tune of N100 million against Obazee for his serial act of sexual harassment, including post judgment interest of 15 percent until the sum is liquidated.

She is also praying the court to award in her favour, N10 million as cost of the legal action. But in a joint statement of defense instituted by Adesegun Ajibola (SAN) on behalf of Obazee, the defendants denied all the allegations, with a further position that after the employment of the claimant, she was granted series of leave, promotion and salary increase.

Obazee also stated that before the deployment of the plaintiff to his office, he had worked in different capacities without blemish or allegation non the least "sexual harassment" whatsoever, and that he had been performing his obligation to the Council with utmost good faith.

The FRCN boss also pointed out that soon after the plaintiff was deployed to serve as Executive Office Manager to his office, she exhibited the following traits to wit poor performance; poor attitude and disposition to work, low productivity and laziness, dishonesty with the handling of impress kept in her custody, the claimant was advised to improve her attitude to work but persisted with her shoddy ways.

Obazee alongside the council alleged further that sometime in 2012, the plaintiff introduced her husband who is also a Pastor to him, and inform him of the need to offer prayer for him and in addition indicated a prophesy that the Executive Director will soon be promoted to higher office in Nigeria.

The statement of defense pointed out that when it became obvious that the claimant would not improve or meet up with the standard demanded by her office, he had no choice than to transfer her to Kaduna in line with the public service rules on May 22, 2013, but the plaintiff resumed two days later.

Obazee also told the court that the plaintiff began to exhibit truancy, with a further position that the vexatious allegation of sexual harassment are mere figment of the plaintiff's imagination.

The respondents stressed that the termination of her appointment followed due process and that her claims are vexatious and gold digging and should be dismissed with substantial cost.