The Ogun State High Court sitting in Ilaro has struck out a rape charge filed against a former lecturer at Covenant University, Ota, Stephen Ukenna.

 

 

 

 

In the Certified True Copy of the ruling, Justice A. A. Shobayo granted the request of the Ogun State Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) on 5 June 2024 to withdraw the case.

 

 

 

 

The charge, marked HCT/78C/2021, was formally struck out after the prosecution counsel, O. Osunsami, informed the court that multiple efforts to produce witnesses for testimony had failed.

 

 

 

The defence counsel, A. Mbuko, who held brief for R. Akinola, did not oppose the application.

 

 

 

In delivering his ruling, Justice Shobayo ordered that the case be struck out and ruled, “Defendant is hereby discharged but not acquitted.”

 

 

 

Background

 

Stephen Ukenna, a former lecturer in the Department of Business Management at Covenant University, was arrested by the Ogun State Police Command in March 2021 over allegations of r@pe.

 

 

 

At the time, then Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, stated that the lecturer’s arrest followed a complaint by the parents of a 17-year-old female student.

 

 

 

 

 

According to the parents, their daughter claimed she had been invited to Ukenna’s office under the pretext of helping plan a surprise birthday party for a friend. Once there, she alleged that the lecturer locked the door and r@ped her on his office table.

 

 

 

Following the complaint, the then Area Commander in Ota, Muyideen Obe, ordered Ukenna’s immediate arrest. The state’s then Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, directed that the case be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for detailed investigation and prosecution.

 

 

 

With the case now struck out and the defendant discharged but not acquitted, legal analysts note that the matter could be revived in the future if new evidence or witnesses emerge.