Massive female students’ uproar forces UNICAL top brass to meet with aggrieved parties
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
A massive protest led by female students has forced the University of Calabar (UNICAL) to investigate law faculty Dean Cyril Ndifon over alleged sexual harassment, the case having been closed initially in a way that did not assuage the agitation of the “law girls”.
A video that went viral on social media on Monday shows the students accusing Ndifon of sexually assaulting and harassing them multiple times.
The students stormed the office of Vice Chancellor Florence Obi, a Professor, bearing placards with inscriptions such as
- “We are tired of sucking dicks”
- “The faculty of law not a brothel”
- “Ndifon must go for our sanity”
- “We are tired of buying law journals”
- “We are tired of lecturers not attending classes”
- “Law girls are not your bonanza; Prof. Ndifon should stop grabbing us and others”
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VC meets with aggrieved parties
CrossRiverWatch, an online medium, quoted Ndifon as denying the allegations, claiming the protest was orchestrated by some faculty members who held a grudge against him, per reporting by The PUNCH.
“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,” Ndifon was quoted as saying.
A report on Arise Television on Wednesday claimed the allegations had previously led to Ndifon quiting his teaching job only to be brought back to head the faculty, ostensibly without the students feeling the case was satisfactory closed at the time.
UNICAL spokesperson Eyo Bassey confirmed the school management has now met with the aggrieved parties.
“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,” he told The PUNCH.
“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.”