Victoria OparaTHE State Security Service (SSS) has confirmed the arrest of former Dean of Law faculty at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cyril Ndifon, who was suspended by the institution following allegations of sexual harassment.
Director of Public Relations and Strategic Communications of the Service, Peter Afunanya, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, saying the arrest was at the request of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes Commission (ICPC).
Afunanya also said Ndifon had refused to honour invitations sent to him by the SSS based on the allegations against him, which led to his arrest on Wednesday, October 4.
“The ICPC has sought the collaboration of the Department of State Services (DSS), on the University of Calabar (UNICAL) sex scandal matter involving Professor Cyril Ndifon, the erstwhile Dean of Faculty of Law of the Institution.
“The commission had disclosed the refusal of Ndifon to honour its several invitations thus his eventual arrest in Calabar, Cross River State by its operatives on 4th October, 2023 based on a court order. However, the Service, following the commission’s request and in the spirit of interagency cooperation, supported it for a successful operation,” Afunanya noted.
Ndifon was accused of sexual harassment during a protest by female Law students of UNICAL on August 15.
The students carried placards that read, “Law students are not Bonanza, Prof. Ndifon should stop grabbing us. The Faculty of Law is not a brothel,” “Ndifon must go for our sanity,” among other inscriptions.
He was suspended by the university two days later and a panel was set up to investigate the allegations.
Although Ndifon denied the allegations and described them as lies, this is his second suspension for similar reasons. The first time was in 2015 when a final-year student accused him of raping her in his office.