UniCal’s Ndifon: Lecherous Lecturers Must Let Female Undergraduates Breathe

In a rare display of courage and resolve to expose the long-standing issue of sexual harassment within the faculty, female Law students of the University of Calabar on Monday took to the streets of UniCal to protest against the rampant demand for sexual favors by some of their lecturers in exchange for grades. Armed with placards inscribed with very distressing and obscene inscriptions, the protesters (led by the Law Students Association of Nigeria, Unical branch president, Benedict Otu), the lawyers in embryo drew attention to the distressing experiences that female students have endured due to sexual molestation by some lecturers. While the demonstration has since been framed as revolving around the Dean of the Faculty, Prof Cyril Ndifon, suffice to state that the protesters’ angst was also against other sexual predators among the faculty. Indeed, one of their placards had the inscription: “We are tired of s*cking d*cks”.

While the pluralizing of the male sex organ in the placard confirms that the sexual molestation isn’t just an isolated case or perpetrated by a single lecturer, the accused Dean in his response claimed he was targeted and that the protest was campus politics at play. 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. 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.” Ndifon continued in an interview he granted CrossRiverWatch, “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 holding a meeting with the Vice Chancellor if it is not the handiwork of an insider.”

The dean was actually in the eye of the storm as another placard had the message: “Law girls are not your bonanza; Prof. Ndifon should stop grabbing us and others”. Despite his denial, reports say over 15 victims of the said allegations have spoken out and are willing to testify against the embattled professor in court. Meanwhile, the Management of the University of Calabar has suspended the Dean, citing an alleged violation of the provisions of the extant laws and policies of the institution. The suspension, conveyed in a letter by the University Registrar, Mr. Gabriel Egbe, stated that the suspension is coming on the heels of his response to a query earlier issued to him by the University Management. The Vice-Chancellor, who was dissatisfied with Prof. Ndifon’s response to the letter marked Ref UC/REG/DISC.45A, placed him on suspension, while the matter is referred to a panel that will be set up to investigate the allegations leveled against him.

How convenient it is for the University authorities to act now after reinstating the same Ndifon who was once accused of raping a female student in his office. A civil society organization, Sacredhearts Gender Protective Initiative had through its Executive Director, Rosemary Nwafor, written a letter to the UniCal Vice Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi, with the headline: RE: RAPE CASE OF PROF. CYRIL NDIFON. Part of the letter written last December reads, “Madam Vice Chancellor, you will recall that on August 29, 2015, one Prof. Cyril Osim Ndifon, (who is currently the Dean of your Law Faculty) was accused of raping, in his office, a female law student of your University. After a preliminary investigation by the University Management, the said Ndifon was indicted and suspended as staff of the university. An attempt by Ndifon to set aside his suspension by the university was dismissed by a well-delivered judgment by the National Industrial Court on the 21st of September 2016 (vide suit NICN/CAI01/2016)”.

Naija News is disappointed that the management of the University of Calabar allowed such a randy man to emerge as a Dean in the institution, given the allegations dogging him. What guarantee is there then that such a discredited character won’t end up as the institution’s vice chancellor in the coming years when the current scandal would have rolled by? Such bad eggs should not be allowed in the country’s ivory towers which are meant to be the lightning rod for morality in the society. This isn’t the first time Ndifon, who is reputed to be the first Professor of Law from Cross River State, will be mired in this sort of impropriety with his female students. For him to remain as Dean signals that lecturers’ inappropriate behaviours towards female students may as well be the norm at UniCal hence no serious sanction was imposed on the randy lecturer to repel a recurrence. Even if Ndifon is innocent of the new allegation, the reputation of the University of Calabar and its alumni have taken a plunge for one of their most respected lecturers to be so accused by his female students.

It is clear that the menace of sexual harassment is very prevalent in Nigeria’s tertiary institutions as a systemic challenge. It is for this reason that we salute the courage of the protesting law students of UniCal in voicing their frustration. Naija News however insists that none of them must be victimized. This is because randy lecturers have a way of watching one another’s back whereby those not yet exposed take over the battle of their partners in crime. The authorities must therefore protect the protesters. For the video of the Law students’ protest to instantly trend immediately it was posted online shows how dated and widespread the highly deplorable act is. Several women jumped on the hashtag to recount their experiences on campus at the hands of lecherous lecturers. Given that sexual molestation is this common in tertiary institutions across the country, this newspaper encourages victims to stop suffering in silence and emulate the UniCal Law students in letting the world know their plight. They can do this with readily accessible social media tools, and by so doing turn the table on those wicked lecturers strongarming them.

Interestingly, students who this scum of lecturers seeks to turn into sex slaves are of the same age if not younger than their children. How will these lascivious academics feel if their loved ones are at the receiving end of their kind of predatory behaviour? Well, if the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) means nothing to randy lecturers who won’t let female undergraduates be, Naija News charges compulsive rapists in the academia to remember Richard Akindele, the disgraced Obafemi Awolowo University professor who was in December 2018 sentenced to jail for demanding sex for marks from a student, Monica Osagie.