SAN FRANCISCO, December 24, (THEWILL) – A former student of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Miss Utitofon Hanson, now Mrs. Utitofon Ekanem, has accused film producer and director, Kunle Afolayan, of profiting from her experience at the school by making it into a Netflix movie titled, ‘Citation’ and failing to give her credit.
Utitofon said that between 204 and 2007, she endured sexual harassment from an associate professor at the Political Science Department, Dr. Sunday Akindele who was subsequently dismissed by the school authorities while she was celebrated as the first student in the history of the school to get a lecturer dismissed for sexual harassment.
Ekanem, who is now a teacher, said that after the release of ‘October 1’ by Afolayan, she reached out to him and broached the idea of producing a movie about sexual harassments in higher institutions and told him about her experience.
She claimed Afolayan told her that he would ask someone to contact her the next day. However, no one ever did. The teacher said she was therefore surprised when in 2020, she stumbled on a movie titled, ‘Citation’ which was based on her experience and directed by Afolayan who she had discussed the idea with five years earlier.
She said, “Temi Otedola, who was the victim of sexual harassment in the movie, was actually me in real life.”
She explained that the movie had only a few differences from her actual experience. Unlike in the movie, the lecturer who harassed her was neither a foreigner nor fluent in French.
Ekanem further stated that she was a student of Political Science and took elective courses in International Relations while the student in the movie was a Masters student in the Department of International Relations. She said aside from these differences, every other aspect of the movie reflected her experience.
The teacher stated, “The panel that was set up was taking place during school hours. The lecturer told the school that my allegations were false. The issue of students supporting and opposing me was the same as the movie. In the movie, someone gave the actress a letter and asked her to ensure that she wasn’t being used. That was my experience
“People were putting my posters all over the school over the issue. It also happened in the movie. In the movie, Joke Silva was giving support to the main actress through an NGO. I also had such a person. In the movie, it was established that the lecturer had sexually harassed women in his previous school. All that happened to me. The lecturer I had a problem with was a lecturer at a polytechnic in Ikire before coming to OAU.
Utitofon had written a letter to Kunle Afolayan threatening to go to court if he did not meet her demands. But Afolayan refused to respond to Ekanem’s letter. Afolayan said that Ekanem’s allegations were baseless, adding that he had never spoken to her before. Afolayan said the story was written by screenwriter Tunde Babalola, and the entire script was conceived barely two years ago hence his decision to ignore Ekanem’s letter. He said she was free to go to court.
