A staff member of the ministry details how, on many occasions, the permanent secretary allegedly made inappropriate remarks and advances to her, making her apprehensive about possibility of being raped.
The Office of the Head of Civil Services of the Federation (OHCSF) has received a petition by a female official accusing the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ibrahim Lamuwa, of sexual harassment.
Simisola Fajemirokun-Ajayi, a staff member of the ministry, levelled the allegations against Mr Lamuwa, in a petition authored on her behalf by her legal team.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, forwarded Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi's petition with a forwarding letter dated 27 May to the OHCSF for action.
As the permanent secretary, Mr Lamuwa is subordinate to the minister, but is the administrative head concerned with the day-to-day running of the ministry. The minister deals with policy implementation as the overall head of the ministry.
The minister, Mr Tuggar, in his letter forwarding Mrs Fajemirokun-Ajayi's petition to the OHCSF, 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."
When contacted on Tuesday, the minister's Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Alkasim Abdulkadir, wrote in response to our reporter's inquiry on Whatsapp , "No comment; the matter is being looked into by the relevant authorities."
The communications department of the ministry declined to provide Mr Lamuwa's phone number. Mr Lamuwa's lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, did not answer repeated calls or reply to a message by one of our reporters requesting his client's comments on the allegations.
Complaints against permanent secretary
The petition authored on behalf of the complainant by her legal team from the law firm of the renowned lawyer Femi Falana, detailed multiple incidents of alleged sexual harassment at 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.
She said 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.
A particular instance is an incident she said occurred on 7 October 2023. According to her, the permanent secretary, on that day, inappropriately suggested a visit to her 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.
Mr Lamuwa, according to the complainant, 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 to him, 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 at 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 further assured our client that our client's life would never remain the same after the trip. Our client left the scene in utter shock and disappointment because of the awkwardness of the Permanent Secretary, Amb. Ibrahim Lamuwa's discussion.
"While our client was about to excuse herself, Amb. Ibrahim Lamuwa thoughtlessly put his arms around our client's arms and demanded a full-frontal hug which she rejected," her petition read.
'Harassment persists despite minister's assurance safety'
The petitioner also alleged that Mr Lamuwa's persistent harassment made her apprehensive about getting raped, raising concerns about her safety in the workplace.
She noted that she had reported Mr Lamuwa's allegedly disturbing behaviour to the minister in March 2024, when her fear of getting raped heightened.
The minister, in response, had guaranteed her safety, noting that he had confronted the permanent secretary on the issue and a positive change is expected from this conversation.
However, the harassment persisted afterwards, the complainant's lawyers wrote.
"Sometime in May 2024, our client went to Amb. Ibrahim Lamuwa's office under the Honourable Minister's instruction at about 3:20 p.m. informed the Permanent Secretary to contact his counterpart in the Ministry of Defence for the reports needed for the upcoming US trip.
"Upon arriving at the Permanent Secretary's office, our client was informed that he was in his inner room. In her desperate attempt to avoid getting molested, our client returned to her office and interestingly, Amb. Ibrahim Lamuwa demanded that she return to his office at about 3:41 p.m. on the same day.
"As instructed, our client immediately returned to see the Permanent Secretary. On arriving at the Permanent Secretary's office, he commented that our client had not been to his office since February because she had grudges against him. He then offered our client to drink tea from his cup whilst forcefully putting his arms around our client's and referring to her as a stubborn woman
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"Our client again hurriedly left the Permanent Secretary's office for fear of not being molested after repeated demands of a tight hug from him as he had missed seeing her," the letter read.
'Other female workers are victims'
The petitioner also alleged that many other female workers in the ministry have had similar traumatising experiences with Mr Lamuwa.
According to her some of them have been threatened, discriminated against, and declined certain opportunities after rejecting his advances.
"It is pertinent to state that a discreet investigation conducted by our client revealed that more women are with unadorned allegations against the Permanent Secretary, particularly female directors who were almost raped in the hotel rooms and female foreign service officers who have been harassed, threatened and removed from trips, postings and other privileges because they declined to comply with Amb. Ibrahim Lamuwa's uncontrolled sexual urges.
"Given the above-stated facts, the Honourable Minister would agree with us that sexual harassment, intimidation, oppression, discrimination and abuse of office in any form are unacceptable. They violate your Ministry's policies as well as ethical standards. It includes but is not limited to unwanted advances, inappropriate comments, and any behaviour that creates a hostile work environment," the firm added.
