What happened to the FUTA rape case?

In August 2022, news broke out that a 500-level student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, was raped. The incident is now popularly known as FUTA rape. However, further investigations revealed that people got their wires crossed.

Rape is a sensitive issue in Nigeria and across the world. The victims endure emotional torture, trauma and a lack of self-esteem and are regarded with contempt by society. But some of the supposed victims seem to pull the wool over one’s eyes. Concerning their account of events, nothing could be further from the truth.

So, which way did the FUTA rape case go, particularly as it continued to trend on social media? Our readers will soon find out but, first of all…

Table of Content hide 1What is FUTA rape? 2Who was accused of FUTA rape? 3When did FUTA rape occur? 4Who was punished for FUTA rape?

What is FUTA rape?

FUTA rape refers to an alleged sexual assault against a 500-level female student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, by a fellow student and an executive member of the South-West zone of the National Association of Nigerian Students, Awoyinfa Opeoluwa.

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A Twitter user, @SamzyVG, had tweeted that Awoyinfa had allegedly drugged, raped the female student and filmed the assault, which he used to blackmail her. The female in question, according to the Twitter user, reported the matter to the police, which arrested Awoyinfa and later released him after he paid a N300,000 compensation.

The tweet read:

“RAPE: An Alumnus of the Federal University of Technology Akure identified as Awoyinfa Opeoluwa who is also a NANS Executive has been accused of drugging, Raping and Blackmailing a 500L female student from the department of Animal, Production & Health.

“The victim who proceeded to arrest the accused & had the Suspect detained at Wesco Police Station, FUTA Northgate Akure. Reportedly the Victim demanded for Compensation of #10,000,000 naira due to Damages out of the Court premises to settle the case.

“Reportedly she was Paid a Sum of #300,000 naira Compensation while the Suspect was granted Bail and allowed to Go home.”

However, the female student, who declined to disclose her name, debunked the reports, stating that she was not raped by Awoyinfa. She revealed Awoyinfa was her ex-boyfriend and only reported him to the police due to some issues they had, which had been resolved.

“Rape? I was very surprised to hear rape online, I don’t even have anything like rape in my statement (at the police station). How is rape coming up?” She queried.

“It was the rumour of rape that brought me back to the station.

“I have tried to make my story go out online too that there was no rape.”

“There was no money involved, there was no rape,” she insisted

Who was accused of FUTA rape?

Awoyinfa, the alleged suspect regarding the FUTA rape claim, is a student of FUTA and also served as the Public Relations Officer of the South-West zone of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). He was accused of drugging, raping and blackmailing a 500-level female student from the Department of Animal, Production & Health, who remains anonymous.

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Another Twitter user, @FutaBro, in a separate tweet, which also went viral, alleged that it would not be the first time that Awoyinfa, also popularly known as Opaino, was involved in drugging, raping and blackmailing his victims. But he always got away with it because of his connections in FUTA.

The tweet partly read: “This is not the first time I’m hearing about him (being) involved in case (sic) like this but it has always been silenced because he is associated with FUTA. He has always video (sic) and blackmail them with the video if they want to report (sic) to the police.

“But this one did not keep quiet but went to arrest him in his house with police and other agencies. She demanded for 10 million as compensation and after series of begging (sic) they reduced (sic) to 300k.”

The Twitter user also claimed that a source at the police station where Awoyinfa was detained had disclosed that some “fetish stuff” was found in his home and the police made him take a mugshot of the items.

When did FUTA rape occur?

The FUTA rape was first reported on August 10, 2022. However, an account of the incident, from @FutaBro revealed that the rape occurred three days prior. This would mean that the FUTA rape incident occurred on August 7, 2022.

Who was punished for FUTA rape?

Awoyinfa is the only suspect who has been punished for the alleged FUTA rape. First, he was arrested by the police but later released on bail. Second, the South-West leadership of NANS (Zone D), said it had suspended Awoyinfa with immediate effect, pending investigations into the allegations against him. The Coordinator of the student body, Adegboye Emmanuel, released a statement which partly read:

“The attention of the leadership of NANS Zone D (South-West) has been drawn to a disturbing news (sic) trending on social media involving one FUTA 500L student who was said to have been drugged, raped and subsequently filmed for blackmailing purpose(s).

“As an ideological zone with a sincere love for Nigerian students at heart, the zone hereby suspends Awoyinfa Opeoluwa with immediate effect pending the determination of the allegation against him. The zone has immediately set up a committee to holistically review the allegations of rape and blackmail against the said individual, and get back to the zone with a comprehensive and unbiased report within the next five working days.”

The student body also stated that it had set up a five-man committee to investigate the allegation.

Meanwhile, Awoyinfa has denied all allegations against him. Corroborating the female student’s story, he explained in an interview that the situation was a misunderstanding that was misconstrued by mischief makers.

“This is propaganda from our rivals to dent my image. In this era of social media, anybody picks up the phone and says whatever they have without having substantial information. There was just a misunderstanding between me and my ex-girlfriend. We broke up last week. it was not a rape whatsoever,” he told The PUNCH.

“I was invited to the police station. It was just a little issue and it was resolved,” he added.

Awoyinfa also accepted that being suspended from NANS on account of the allegations was a normal process since the news had already gone viral.

Meanwhile, Premium Times reported that the police had summoned the alleged rape victim and the alleged suspect to report to the Ondo State Police Command for interrogation.

So far, there are no recent reports about the FUTA rape case, as of the time of filing this piece.

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