A former quality assurance specialist at Access Bank’s contact centre in Oniru, Lagos, (name withheld), has found himself at the centre of a disturbing scandal involving the secret filming of hundreds of his colleagues.
According to a report by FIJ, the suspect allegedly secretly recorded about 400 colleagues, particularly women, naked inside the office restrooms.
Sources told FIJ that he was apprehended inside the female restroom around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
Although Access Bank subsequently called for his arrest and a raid was conducted at his residence, he was later released from custody.
Some of the affected staff, whose nude images were found among the videos, have voiced concerns about their chances of getting justice, especially since the suspect has been dismissed and is no longer detained by the authorities.
Questions linger over how the suspect was able to carry out such acts undetected.
According to FIJ, the Access Bank contact centre operates a shift system, meaning some employees often spend the night at the office, where they also bathe and freshen up.
“He snuck into the ladies restroom. I believe he wanted to hide his camera as usual, so he noticed ladies coming and hid in one of the toilets beside the bathroom,” a source told the online newspaper.
“Mind you, the men’s restroom is not too close for him to have mistakenly entered the one for women.
“He was found when a lady taking her bath noticed a phone recording her from the toilet cubicle, which is directly by the side of the bathroom. She noticed someone closed the water closet seat, and was making a video. She just saw the camera by chance.”
Upon raising the alarm, more staff members gathered, demanding that the person inside open the door. Eventually, he emerged.
“That was when people saw it was Stephen. He said he didn’t know how he got to the ladies’ toilet, but couldn’t explain the part of him making videos,” a witness recounted.
Later that day, after more footage showing both male and female colleagues naked in the restroom was discovered on his devices, he was taken into custody. A further search of his home uncovered over 400 such videos stored on his laptop.
In an even more unsettling twist, reports suggest that Ijezie may have been profiting from the exploitation.
Despite these revelations, those who previously worked with Ijezie described him as an unlikely perpetrator.
“He was so cool and would always ask after people. That aside, he was an exceptional agent. No one would ever have thought this would come from him,” a former colleague shared