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By Chinelo Obogo
The Tanzanian Ministry of Tourism and Heritage has said it would immediately commence investigation into allegations of sexual assault levelled against a security guard at the Warere Beach Hotel in Nungwi, Zanzibar by a Nigerian tourist, Ms. Zainab Oladeinde.
Ms Oladeinde had on Saturday narrated on her twitter handle how she travelled to Tanzania in April 2021 and was almost raped by a security guard at Warere Beach Hotel.
She said: “This incident happened a year ago in April 2021 but I haven’t been able to talk about it because I’ve been in therapy for a year to heal from the psychological trauma of this experience. On the 15th of April 2021, I flew from Lagos, Nigeria to Zanzibar, Tanzania for my 23rd birthday.
“Few hours into my sleep, I started to feel a strange hand touching my breast and I started to feel my hands stroking someone’s penis. At this moment, I opened my eyes and there was a naked man lying on my bed and touching me at 2am in my hotel room. He started calling me “baby”. I asked the man “who are you?” But all he kept saying was “baby, baby”. While thoughts were going through my head, this man tried to climb on top of me in an attempt to force his penis inside of me.
“I needed to find a quick way to distract him so I lied to him that I have HIV and he’d need to get a condom before sleeping with me. As I struggled to not let him strangle me, he left the room and told me he’d be back with a condom.
“Almost immediately, I remembered the Russian couple I had spent some time with the day before and fortunately for me, their room was open and I ran inside. They woke up and I told the guy ‘Alex ‘ how I almost got raped in my room. The next day when we got to Nungwi police station in Zanzibar and the police officers told me to leave their police station that I wasn’t raped and they had confirmed there was no penetration from the nurses.”
The management of the hotel responded, saying that Ms Oladeinde stayed at the hotel in April 2021 and complained to them that a security guard tried to sexually assault her. They, however, said the guard has denied the allegations, while complaining that within three hours of Ms Oladeinde’s post, it received 4000 negative reviews on google.
However, in a statement from the Executive Secretary of Zanzibar Commission for Tourism, Hafsa Mbamba, the commission said investigations into the allegations will commence immediately.
“On April 16, 2022, the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism has been made aware of a statement made on social media by Ms Zainab Oladeinde, a Nigerian national regarding an incident of assault that was said to have taken place in April 2021 at Warere Hotel in Nungwi, Zanzibar.
“The Zanzibar Commission for Tourism is shocked and disappointed to learn of the incident and take these allegations very seriously. An immediate investigation has commenced and we will report its findings. We condemn any harm or threat to our visitors to the peaceful islands of Zanzibar.
“On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Heritage, we would like to inform our visitors that the Ministry abhors any ill treatment of any persons on the isles as this is not Zanzibari hospitality nor the treatment we want our visitors to receive. It is a regrettable incident we are following closely,’’ the commission said.
