The management of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) has commenced a probe into the alleged sexual harassment levelled against Cyril Ndifon, the dean of the faculty of Law.
On Monday, some female students, led by Benedict Otu, the president of the Law Students Association of Nigeria (LAWSAN), staged a protest, demanding the sack of Ndifon.
The protesting students — clad in their white shirts and black skirts — were chanting “Ndifon, go! go”!
The students carried placards with disturbing inscriptions.
Some of the inscriptions read: “Professor Ndifon let the girls with big breasts breathe stop suffocating us”, “Enough of law school list manipulation”, and “Professor Ndifon must go for our sanity”.
According to PUNCH, Eyo Bassey, the spokesperson of UNICAL, on Tuesday, said the varsity’s authorities had invited aggrieved students and staff of the faculty to level their complaints.
Bassey also said the authorities of the varsity will soon issue a statement with respect to the allegations.
“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,” the spokesperson was quoted to have said.
“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.”
Ndifon had earlier debunked the allegations, describing them as “baseless”.
Ndifon, a professor, also argued that the protest was orchestrated by some members of the faculty who “had vowed to ensure that my image is dragged to the mud”.
“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 baselessly masterminded by my detractor, who had vowed to ensure that my image is dragged to the mud just because I won the faculty elections twice,” he said.
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