Dr. Rahmat Zakariya, a lecturer in the Department of Microbiology, University of Ilorin who was beaten by a final year student narrated her side of the story.
It shouldl be recalled Dr Zakariya was beaten by Waliyullah Saludeen popularly known as Captain Walz on Thursday, November 11.
The student, who has been expelled, said that he assaulted the lecturer because she refused to help wave his mandatory SIWES scheme which he couldn’t do due to unforeseen circumstance.
He further alleged that he had a dream where Mrs Zakariya and his Level Adviser alongside other people were planning against him.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust, Dr Zakariya recounted what happened.
She denied throwing mug at Saludeen, she stated, “the story of me throwing a mug at him is baffling to me. What chance did I have? There was none. This was someone who barged into my office and was saying I sent someone to kill him. He was banging on my table and punching me. So, how is it possible for me to throw a mug at him?”
”I have seen a lot of publications that said that I’m his Level Adviser and supervisor. But none of this is true. I’m neither his Level Adviser nor Supervisor, I’m just a lecturer at the department and the SIWES Coordinator,” she claimed.
“If at all we had contact prior to that day, November 11th, 2021, it was when he met me to tell me that he didn’t do his SIWES, that he only spent a month at the programme and I asked him why didn’t he complete it. He said he was ill. I told him to get his medical report to show that he was truly ill and take it to where he did his SIWES, he could be lucky and they may be compassionate enough if he was diligent when he was there to help him endorse the remaining part of the logbook and he left.
“He didn’t show up again. Then, I met him again on the university walkway and inquired why I didn’t see him again and if he has gotten his medical report. He said he had sent for it but he was yet to receive it. I was wondering why medical report will become such an issue if truly he was sick. Then about two days after, I met him with his Level Adviser and I said he has to re-register SIWES. But the level adviser only smiled when I was giving him the way around it.
”Normally, if you register SIWES for second semester, the person will not be able to do other courses again because there won’t be any opportunity to add any other course.
”There were lots of students that came for the presentation which is about forty marks or thereabouts. But with their presentation, you will simply know they didn’t do much during the SIWES programme. Now, he has seen that there is no way around it but there are more legit ways to go about it if he was remorseful and wanted to be a good boy. But he didn’t show up.
”It was after that day, remember I said earlier his Level Adviser only smiled while I was talking to him about the boy. He later made me realize that even if he had done his SIWES, he would still have spilled for two more years and he didn’t even come at all for his first semester exams he registered for,” she explained.
According to her, when he barged into her office, he did so with a smile in his face,, addressing me by name accusing her of being after his life and sending one Azeez to come and kill him.
“I felt initially that there was a mixed up and I started pleading with him to calm down. Then he started banging on my table, asking what can I do to him, swearing and using the F-word. Imagine him telling me that. All of a sudden, he moved closer to my chair and started punching me and by that time I was already screaming for help.
“There were two of my female students in the inner lab who came pleading with him to let go of me. One was a Niqobite and the other one was a very slim girl. But he threatened to kill them before he kills me if they moved closer. He later went outside, saying that those people who did what I did to him in the past lost their lives in the process and that I wouldn’t try it with him again in my life
I had now gone outside opening several doors to my colleagues’ offices screaming for help but none of them was available. So, when he noticed I couldn’t get any help, he turned back and started chasing me until we got to the General Lab. When I got there, I quickly locked the door and he kept banging the door.
“There were two offices inside the general lab but they were both locked. When he noticed that I had locked the door, he went to window and broke the louvres with his bare hands, I was shocked. He them removed his shoe and used it to clear the broken pieces to enable him enter without getting injured. Although he was strapping a bag, I didn’t see him with any weapon or ammunition. But after that action, I was sensitive to the fact that he might want to use the broken pieces of the Louvres to stab me.
“So, I quickly went back to the door, open it and started running. He entered through the window and continued pursuing me. He was able to catch up with me and started punching me while I was on the ground, that was the video that many people saw. But that was his third attempt at trying to kill me. If you look at the video properly, you will see that it was until the person who came handed me over to someone else before he was able to chase him. He was initially walking away majestically. He wanted to leave me at that point because he felt I was unconscious and he has accomplished his aim. It was just God that saved me, Alhamdulillah,” she recounted.
