*Faces Possible Suspension Over

THE Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ibrahim Adamu Lamuwa, has denied the allegation of sexual harassment levelled against him by Mrs. Simisola Fajemirokun Ajayi, an aide to the Minister, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar.

     This is even as the permanent secretary faces the possibility of being suspended from office, pending thorough investigation into the allegation.

     Responding to the allegation in an elaborate statement, Lamuwa, through his lawyers, discredited Ajayi’s claims, saying: “We are legal representatives of Ambassador Ibrahim Lamuwa (hereinafter referred to as ‘our client’), the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and have been authorised to make the following statement on his behalf, in response to allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by Mrs. Simisola O. Fajemirokun-Ajayi, an aide to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

“The media, particularly the social media, has been inundated with the digital copy of a petition written by legal representatives of Mrs. Simisola O. Fajemirokun-Ajayi against Lamuwa. This petition was clearly leaked in order to generate sympathy for her unsubstantiated claims.

     “We wish to state categorically that our client has never made any sexual advances towards Mrs. Simisola O. Fajemirokun-Ajayi, who he is aware is a married woman, neither 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 Mrs. Simisola O. 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 Mrs. 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 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 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?”

     The statement added: “It is clear that the minister’s aide has misinterpreted ordinary conversations, made openly and in the presence of other participants, for untoward intentions. We believe that these allegations are directly tied to our client’s firm objections raised regarding improper requests that Mrs. Fajemirokun-Ajayi made, particularly to financial matters in the ministry.

“For example, Mrs. 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 Mrs. 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 Mrs. 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.”

The ministry’s staff on Tuesday, June 11, staged a protest against the permanent secretary over the allegation.

Recall that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, had written to the Head of Service of the Federation, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan, complaining about allegations of sexual harassment against Lamuwa.

This followed a petition by a staff of the ministry, Mrs. Simisola Fajemirokun Ajayi, through her lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), to Tuggar, alleging the excesses of the permanent secretary and urging the minister to investigate him and that disciplinary actions be taken against Lamuwa, if found culpable, to serve as a deterrent to others.

The petition, dated May 29, 2024, and titled, ‘Request for an Investigation of Amb. Ibrahim Lamuwa’s conducts of sexual harassment at the place of work, abuse of office official intimidation and discrimination,’ was signed by Adebayo A. Oniyelu for Falana & Falana Chamber.

Female employee of the ministry had also written to the minister, seeking a probe of Lamuwa over the allegation.

Meanwhile, there were reports that Lamuwa may have been suspended by the Office of the Head of Service over alleged sexual harassment.

Unconfirmed reports say he was requested to step down and given until Friday, June 15, to relinquish his position, while a former Nigerian Ambassador to Cuba, Mr. Benaoyagha Okoyen, would take over in acting capacity on Monday, June 17.