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• Says allegation false, Fajemirokun-Ajayi wants to tarnish my image
From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
Embattled Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Adamu Lamuwa, has opened up on allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by Simisola Fajemirokun-Ajayi, one of the aides of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar.
His response is sequel to a letter, dated May 27, 2024, by Tuggar and addressed to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HoSF), Folasade Yemi-Esan, notifying the Head of Service about sexual allegations against Lamuwa.
Lamuwa’s response is also coming on the heels of a petition, dated May 29, 2024, by Adebayo Oniyelu of Falana and Falana’s Chambers, addressed to Tuggar, whereby Fajemirokun-Ajayi urged Tuggar to carry out a thorough investigation and if found liable, appropriate disciplinary actions should be meted against Lamuwa to serve as deterrence to forestall future occurrence.
But Lamuwa, in a letter, through his lawyer, Audu Anuga, said the media, particularly the social media, has been inundated with the digital copy of a petition written by legal representatives of Fajemirokun-Ajayi against Lamuwa.
The petition, Anuga stated, was clearly leaked in order to generate sympathy for Fajemirokun-Ajayi’s unsubstantiated claims.
“We wish to state categorically that our client has never made any sexual advances towards Fajemirokun-Ajayi, who he is aware is a married woman, nor has he ever made suggestive comments or innuendos that requested any form of untoward relationship between himself and her.
“Our client distinctly recalls the events that took place at the ministry’s retreat on October 7, 2023, where Fajemirokun-Ajayi claims that he invited her to his room. Our client states categorically that he never made such an invitation and that his only communication with Fajemirokun-Ajayi, which was an overt one, was where he checked on her, like he did to all participants on whether they had been well-lodged in their hotels.
“He further recalls that the instance where he spoke of her as a nursing mother, during the same retreat was in a colloquial conversation they were having with other participants, where one participant even responded jokingly that when a woman says ‘her baby’ it could mean either her husband or one of her children, of which he innocuously joked asking ‘how big is the baby?
“Our client maintains that those conversations were made jokingly and sees their misinterpretation as malicious and with ill-intent.
“Our client also maintains that it is an absurdity for Fajemirokun-Ajayi to claim that he invited her to Hong Kong, given that the conversation they were both having was on how Hong Kong had digitised its work processes as far back as 1999. Our client wonders how such a conversation became interpreted as an invitation for her to travel alongside himself knowing fully well that she is an aide to the minister. How can she possibly leave the minister to follow the permanent secretary, on a vacation?
Would that not be the height of delusion for the one requesting, as well as the one heeding to the request?” Anuga queried.
Lamuwa further said, through his lawyer, that it was clear the minister’s aide misinterpreted ordinary conversations, made openly and in the presence of other participants, for untoward intentions.
“We believe these allegations are directly tied to our client’s firm objections raised regarding improper requests that Fajemirokun-Ajayi made, particularly to financial matters in the ministry.
“For example, Fajemirokun-Ajayi made a trip to the World Economic Forum (Davos), of which she sought a reimbursement from the ministry for. Our client firmly explained to her that while the ministry may look at avenues to refund her expenses, it is not the appropriate process for a trip to be made without an approval, and then funded with taxpayers money.
“Further to this, is the fact of Fajemirokun-Ajayi’s unfamiliarity with civil service rules and processes where she had requested from our client access to policy files and even financial records of high-level activities of the ministry. By no means, should the permanent secretary, as chief accounting officer of the ministry, provide such sensitive documents to an aide of the minister, worse via a WhatsApp chat. There are due processes in government, and they must be followed.
“We must emphasise that Fajemirokun-Ajayi is a political appointee, and not a civil servant. Thus, matters of finance and policy are out of bounds for her in this instance.
“It is crucial to mention that our client, in all his 32 years of service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, never received a query nor a report against him bordering on harassment, let alone, sexual harassment. In the course of this period, our client has served in Hong Kong, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Syria and more recently, Senegal, and there has never been a negative report on his conduct in any of these countries.
“Lamuwa has also served for nine years in the State House. From the office of the vice president, to the office of the chief of staff to the president, and to the office of the president, and no negative report or allegation of any kind has ever been raised against him,” Anuga said.
