The Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, Prof. Cyril Ndifon, has refuted the sexual harassment allegations levelled against him by some female students of the faculty.
On Monday, some of the students led by the President of the Law Students Association of Nigeria, LAWSAN, Benedict Otu, had staged a protest, demanding the sack of Mr Ndifon over the said allegations
The students, who matched through the campus, displayed placards with various unprintable inscriptions.
But in an interview with Cross River Watch, an online platform, the dean denied the allegations, claiming that the protest was masterminded by some members in the faculty who had sworn to pull him down.
He said: “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 detractors, who had vowed to ensure that my image is dragged to the mud just because I won the faculty elections twice.
“If you look at the placards you would discover that the placards have one person’s handwriting.
“Again, how comes the protesters know that we were holding 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 unseated.
“From what am told, LAWSAN President, Benedict Otu, cajoled some students that they were to go for a meeting with the Vice Chancellor at her office, only to dish out placards bearing false representations about the Dean, and asked his colleagues to chant slogans that berated my personality.
“This won’t work. Colleagues of mine are bent on tarnishing my reputation just to destroy me. The question is where are the victims of sexual harassment. Can someone harass girls without the ladies coming out to raise the alarm that they were sexually harassed?
“For Christ sake, I don’t teach Year two or Year one students, so I don’t know why they have chosen to drag my name to 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.”
