The management of the University of Calabar, UNICAL, has begun an investigation into the sexual harassment allegations against Prof. Cyril Ndifon, Dean of the Faculty of Law.
WAKADAILY reported on Monday that several female students of the University staged a protest in the institutions, accusing Dean of Faculty of Law, of frequently harassing and sexually assaulting them.
The students were chanting ‘Ndifon, go! go!’ with various inscriptions placards such as: “Ndifon Must Go!” “We’re tired of sucking dicks for marks”, “Law Girls Are Not Bonanza”, “Prof Ndifon Must Stop Grabbing our Bum Bum.
Reacting, Prof. Cyril Ndifon denied the allegations, stating that the protest was masterminded by some persons in the faculty who had sworn to pull him down.
According to him: “Since I defeated some persons in an election that was keenly contested, to emerge as Dean of the faculty, it hasn’t been easy. I had skipped several booby traps.
“These allegations are baseless and masterminded by my detractors who had vowed to ensure that my image is dragged through the mud just because I won the faculty elections twice.”
Speaking on the placards, Ndifon claimed that they had sole handwriting.
“If you look at the placards you will discover that the placards have one person’s handwriting. Again how come the protesters know that we were going to hold a meeting with the Vice Chancellor if it is not the handiwork of an insider.
“We were supposed to hold a meeting with the Vice Chancellor to enable us iron out important issues troubling us in the faculty. While the meeting was on-going, we were told that some students were outside with placards, protesting against me, demanding that I should be removed.
“For Christ’s sake, I don’t teach Year 2 B or Year one students, so I don’t know why they have chosen to drag my name into the mud. This was why I said earlier that the allegations were lies, cooked from the pit of hell, just to destroy a reputation that I had spent decades building,” he said.
The University’s spokesperson, Eyo Bassey, who spoke with journalists on Tuesday said the management has begun investigation into the matter.
“By the end of today (Tuesday), we will issue a statement. Yesterday (Monday), the students came out with their protest, carrying placards, which you saw online bearing various inscriptions.
They were invited by the vice-chancellor. The staffers of the Faculty of Law were invited to come and address management as well as their senior faculty staff about whatever might have been their complaints.
“They spoke and raised a lot of issues. It is not even just about sexual allegations. There are all kinds of other issues they raised and management commended them for bringing the issues to their attention.”
