The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ibrahim Lamuwa, has denied the allegation of sexual harassment levelled against him by Simisola Fajemirokun-Ajayi, a media aide to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar.
Mr Lamuwa denied the allegations of sexual harassment in his reply to Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi’s petition submitted to the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF).
PREMIUM TIMES reported on Tuesday that the foreign affairs minister, Mr Tugar, forwarded Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi’s petition – authored on her behalf by her team of lawyers from renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Femi Falana’s law firm – to the OHCSF for action.
A media platform PRNigeria reported on Wednesday that it obtained a copy of Mr Lamuwa’s response similarly authored by his legal team led by Audu Anuga, also a SAN. PREMIUM TIMES made futile efforts to get Mr Lamuwa’s reactions to the allegations through his lawyer Mr Anuga on Tuesday.
The response denied the multiple instances of sexual harassment alleged against him in Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi’s petition.
It also made a counter-accusation, alleging that Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi’s “malicious claims” against Mr Lamuwa were triggered by his constant rejection of her “improper requests” about the ministry’s finances.
A particular instance, according to him, was when Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi, who is unfamiliar with civil service rules and processes, asked for access to policy files and even financial records of high-level ministry activities.
“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 Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi is a political appointee, not a civil servant. Thus, finance and policy matters are out of her bounds in this instance,” the letter read.
We cannot immediately ascertain if the complainant has responded to this allegation.
He argued that the petition was only shared online to gather public attention and sympathy for her “unsubstantiated claims.”
Minister’s aide’s petition
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi alleged in her petition that Mr Lamuwa’s sexual harassment became so persistent and troubling to the point that she began to be apprehensive about getting raped, raising concerns about her safety in the workplace.
She alleged that Mr Lamuwa’s conduct created an unsafe work environment for her, especially as her roles required her to work closely with and report to him often.
According to her, the top official made inappropriate remarks and advances to her on different occasions, causing her to be apprehensive and uncomfortable with carrying out her duties.
One of such incidents, she said, occurred on 7 October 2023 when the permanent secretary inappropriately suggested to her to visit his hotel room at the end of President Bola Tinubu’s 4D policy review, an event which was ongoing at the time.
She said the top official initially approached her to inquire as to why she did not sleep at the hotel and then informed her that he would want her to come to his room after the event.
“Our client explained that she was a nursing mother and needed to go home to care for her baby,” her lawyers wrote.
But Mr Lamuwa pushed further by saying, “Is it a big baby or small baby- he suspects it’s a big baby and would like to find out so he can join.”
Despite expressing her displeasure about his conduct, Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi said he “continued this line of inappropriate anecdotes throughout the retreat.”
Another incident occurred on 10 November 2023, her petition stated. This time, the complainant said, she was with the permanent secretary in his conference room discussing plans to digitise the ministry.
According to her, Mr Lamuwa, in the course of their discussion, invited her for a meeting later that afternoon with a team from Galaxy Backbone. While the conversation was ongoing, Mr Lamuwa allegedly derailed from the topic of the proposed meeting and instead invited her for a private trip to Hong Kong.
“He assured our client that our client’s life would never remain the same after the trip,” the petition read.
Permanent secretary refutes allegations
But Mr Lamuwa, through his legal team, described the allegation as a “malicious misinterpretation” of his kind and courteous dispositions.
He denied making sexual advances, suggestive comments or innuendos that requested any form of untoward relationship between himself and Mrs. Fajemirokun-Ajayi.
He said the incident at President Bola Tinubu’s 4D policy review in 2023, was in a colloquial conversation which involved other participants.
“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?”
Mr Lamuwa, in the document, maintained that those conversations were made jokingly and without any sexual undertone.
According to the document, the permanent secretary denied inviting the complaint to his hotel room.
It said, “his only communication with Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi, which was an overt one, was where he checked on her, as he did to all participants on whether they had been well-lodged in their hotels.”
“Our client also maintains that it is absurd for Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi to claim that he invited her to Hong Kong, given that the conversation they were both having was on how Honk 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 full well that she is an aide to the minister. How can she leave the minister to follow the permanent secretary on a vacation? Would that not be the height of delusion for the one requesting and the one heeding the request?”
Maintaining his innocence, he said the misconduct he was accused of does not align with the reputation he has built in his 32 years of service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He said in his career, he “never received a query nor a report against him bordering on harassment, let alone sexual harassment”.
“Duing 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,” he added.
Minister writes to OHCSF
PREMIUM TIMES reported that Mr Tuggar, in his cover letter forwarding Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi’s petition to the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation, expressed concerns about the gravity of the allegations levelled against the permanent secretary and called for an investigation.
“I am compelled to write to inform you of a formal complaint against the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ibrahim Adamu Lamuwa, on allegations of sexual harassment,” the minister wrote in the letter shared with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday. “Bearing in mind the gravity of the matter, I feel it necessary to draw your attention to it and ask that you handle it accordingly.”
He assured the HOCSF that he would “remain available to provide you with any assistance required in discharging your responsibilities.”
