Anglican Church reacts to sex-for-mark scandal against its Venerable, Professor Richard Akindele

The Ife Diocese of the Anglican Church has reacted to the allegations of sexual misconduct levelled against a Venerable in the church, Prof. Akindele who is also a Professor at the Department of Management and Accounting, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife.

Clergymen and members of the church are obviously crestfallen about how the man of God allegedly fell cheaply during a telephone conversation between him and a yet to be identified female student. The telephone conversation which was leaked went viral on the social media platform.

To compound the negative publicity which the matter has given the professor, the university and the church, prominent media houses all over the world are showing keen interest in the sex-for-mark scandal. In the recorded telephone conversation, the professor was allegedly heard demanding to have sex five times with the lady before he would upgrade her mark from 33 to a pass, which is regarded as just ‘let my people go.’

Findings by PUNCH revealed that Akindele is a well loved preacher by members of the church many of who declined to make any comment on the issue but blamed everything on the devil. They described him as easy going and generous.

A senior clergyman at one of the Anglican Church parishes in Ile Ife who spoke with on condition of anonymity, said, “You don’t need to come and interview the Bishop or any member of the church. What do you want us to say? We can’t speak on the matter. What happened was between a lecturer and a student and it probably happened on the campus, so, what do you want the church to say on it? If it had been an allegation of a rape or sexual misconduct against a member or that the man in question did what he was accused of while ministering, then the church would have spoken but not on this case. I am sure that the bishop will not talk to you or any journalist on this.

“The university has set up a committee to probe the matter. The church will not speak on it until after the university must have made public its report. We do not have anything to say on it for now. So, let us wait and see what happens next.”