22/08/2023
Sexual Harassment: NBA shouldn't investigate Ndifon after Conferring SANship on EX-VC UNIUYO - Nigerian Lawyer
Barr. Fidel Albert, a Nigerian lawyer, has questioned the Nigerian Bar Association's (NBA) decision to investigate Prof. Cyril Ndifon, the Dean of Law Faculty at the University of Calabar, suspended by the institution for allegedly sexually harassing female students in the faculty after conferring the title of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) on Prof.Enefiok Essien appears to be a witch-hunt.
The lawyer, who was responding to the NBA's National Publicity Secretary's statement two days ago that the association had formed an ad hoc committee to investigate the charges against Prof. Ndifon, posted on his Facebook account;
"If the NBA is serious at all, they should start with Prof. Eniefiok Essien SAN. Otherwise, they shouldn’t bother with Prof. Ndifon. Indeed, going after Ndifon while Eniefiok was given a free pass, would look like nothing if not a proper witch-hunt.
"When Eniefiok Essien was listed for SANship, it came to the open that this man was a terrible sexual predator while he was Dean of the Faculty of Law in Uniuyo. A particular lady was failed and kept back in school for several years because she refused his sexual advances.
He mentioned that the lady had sued the University of Uyo and provided proof by citing the case in another post. ( Case citation: University of Uyo & Ors v. Essel (2006) All FWLR (Pt. 315) 80. )
Mr. Albert went on to say that the public only needed to read the Court of Appeal's judgment on that case to understand what he was talking about.
"That judgment took time to chronicle, in painful details, the evil, unbridled sexual tendencies of Prof. Essien towards female students in Uniyo faculty of Law. I cringed when I read that judgment. Prof. Essien’s moral character, or the lack of it, was utterly torn apart by the Court of Appeal.
"But guess what? Despite the public hue and cry that followed the publication of that Judgement, and the vehement protest against his SANship, the wise ones in this profession of ours thought the best way to punish Prof. Essien for his misdeeds was to reward him with SANship!! They proceeded to confer him with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
"So tell me, why should Prof. Ndifon be investigated at all, when Prof. Essien, a confirmed sexual predator of equal standing, with a Court of Appeal judgment to validate his sexual predatory credibility, or discredit, was conferred with SANship for his efforts! " he wrote.
He recommended that the association not probe Prof. Ndifon but instead make him a SAN.
"That's how we punish our deviant characters in this profession of ours!!" Mr. Albert concluded.
