Sexual Harassment: You Can’t Drop Charges Against Commissioner, Police Tell Victim’s Family

The Ogun police command says it will not discontinue investigation of sexual harassment levelled against Abiodun Abudu-Balogun, the state commissioner for environment.

Ekohotblog had reported how Melojuekun Barakat, a teenager said to be a student of Victory Model College in Ogun waterside local government area of the state, had, in a viral video claimed that Abudu-Balogun sexually harassed her, an allegation the commissioner denied.

Abudu-Balogun was subsequently suspended by the  state government.

But in a bizarre turn of events, the family of the victim said they were no longer interested in a litigation with the suspended commissioner over the allegation.

In a video, Melojuekun Adesola Mansur, a man who claimed to be Barakat’s father, said the family would love to lay the matter to rest.

He added that the case is no longer a thing of interest to him, saying he had realised tthat the issue was fraught with “misconceptions and misunderstanding”. 

But Abimbola Oyeyemi, police public relations officer of the command, said the position of the family in the case was now inconsequential as the case is no longer in their hands.

He explained that the victim’s father has no power to demand discontinuation of the investigation and charges against the the commissioner as he was not the one directly involved in the case.

Oyeyemi said the case is an offence committed against the state, therefore, it is the commissioner of police versus the suspect.

He disclosed that Edward Ajogun, the state commissioner of police, had ordered that the case be transferred to the criminal investigation department at the police headquarters in Eleweran, Abeokuta, for “proper investigation”.

“The father of the victim has no loco standi for him to tell the police that he’s no longer pressing charges against the commissioner because he is not our complainant,” Oyeyemi said.

“He is not the person that was directly involved in the case. The victim is his daughter and even the daughter herself cannot withdraw the case because she is underage.

“Secondly, the case is an offence committed against the state, so they are no longer complainants, it is the commissioner of police versus the suspect.

“They are just witnesses in the case. So the police are going on with investigations to confirm the authenticity of the claims.

“The CP has directed that the case should be transferred to the State CID for proper investigations, so their position is immaterial.

“We cannot conclude that the case will be charged to court until when we confirm that the offence was actually committed. If the offence was actually committed, we will not hesitate to charge it court and see the case to a logical conclusion.”