Kendall Ananyi who was reportedly accused of sexual harassment has been reinstated as the CEO of Tizeti after ‘an Independent Special Investigation Committee appointed by its Board of Directors concluded ‘that a case of sexual harassment had not been established.’
This was disclosed in a statement from Tizeti, a Nigerian Internet Service Provider.
The statement reads: “The law firm of Olumide Sofowora Chambers, led by Senior Advocate of Nigeria Olumide Sofowora, SAN, C.Arb., was then selected by the Special Investigation Committee as independent legal counsel to conduct the investigation.
“Olumide Sofowora examined the allegations, researched what actions would constitute sexual harassment, gathering relevant information from a number of sources in both Nigeria and Ghana, and conducted a number of interviews, including separately interviewing both the accuser and Mr. Ananyi.
“Based on this investigation, it was determined by the independent legal counsel, which conclusion was accepted by the Independent Special Investigation Committee, that a case of sexual harassment had not been established.
“As a result, Mr. Ananyi has been reinstated as CEO of Tizeti Inc., with Mr. Okonkwo and Ms. Aiyedun returning to their COO and CFO roles, respectively.”
What happened?
A Twitter user name Kelechi Udoagwu had accused Ananyi of sexually harassing her. She wrote: “I just laughed sadly cos I remember one Naija #tech mentor who was supposed to be mentoring me when I was in MEST & this dude (married) pulled out and put his dick in my hands in the bright afternoon, begging me for anything I could do *sigh.
As a result of the allegations, Tizeti said that it was going to investigate. This perhaps prompted Ananyi to voluntarily step down from his role as CEO of the internet company.
What next?
Tizeti concluded in the statement it was going to update its code of conduct and put in place a sexual harassment policy that is in line with best practices and encourages the reporting of any potential incidents.
At the same time, it promised to “also conduct training programs covering sexual harassment in the workplace for all executives, employees, and staff.”
