Female students in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar held a peaceful rally on Monday inside the university campus to protest against the Dean of the Faculty, Cyril Ndifon, whom they accused of sexual harassment.
A video clip of the protest posted on Twitter showed a handful of female students chanting protest songs in front of an administrative building inside the university.
“Professor Andifon, let the girls with big breasts breathe. Stop suffocating us,”
“We are tired of sucking dicks,” reads one placard displayed in the video.
A few male students took part in the protest, Premium Times reports.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Florence Obi, told Premium Times Monday evening that she addressed the protesting students and assured them that their complaints would be looked into.
Mrs. Obi, a professor, vowed that the university management would investigate the allegations against Mr. Ndifon but that the students would be required to provide evidence to back up their complaints.
“When you are talking about sexual harassment, you need more than an accusation,” she said.
The vice chancellor said the students on Thursday filed an official complaint with her and that a few of the students’ representatives met with her before the protest rally.
She further commended the students over the way and manner they peacefully conduct the protest in line with the school rules and regulations.
She said, “I want to first thank you for the peaceful manner you have conducted yourself. It shows actually that you are law students. You understand the rules and regulations of the university. We have heard your complain
After the Monday protest, Mrs. Obi met for about five hours with the faculty of law management to discuss the development, she said.
“A committee has already been set up to handle some other issues raised by the students,” she said.
Mr. Andifon was previously suspended by the school authority in 2015 after he was accused of raping a 20-year-old law student in his office, an allegation the professor challenged in court.
His suspension was lifted about a year later, under unclear circumstances.
The professor reacts
Mr. Ndifon told Premium Times that the protest against him was stage-managed by the President of the Law Students Association of the university, Ben Otu, whom he said was “merely a pun” in some power game in the law faculty.
“Some lecturers are the real people behind this,” he said.
Mr. Ndifon said it was only 100-level students who were involved in the protest and that the students were lured out on the pretext that they were going for a lecture.
“How come it was only the year one students who protested—year one students that I have never taught? Where are the year two students, year three, year four, and year five students?”
“Ask the lecturers who are behind these things. I won an election. You should ask them. If this man is that bad and unpopular, how come he won an election as dean with a landslide for the first and second terms?” the professor said.
“What have I done wrong? They say I run the faculty like an emperor. That is what I have done wrong.”
Mr. Ndifon denied the sexual harassment allegation, saying he hardly knows the first-year students in the faculty since he does not handle any of their courses.
“At the end of the day, after all the noise, my guilt was that I tore a student’s (examination) script and gave her the opportunity to rewrite,” the professor responded.
