Suspended Dean of Law Faculty, University of Calabar, UNICAL, Prof Cyril Ndifon, has filed a lawsuit against the lnstitution’s Vice Chancellor, Prof. Florence Obi, for character defamation.
Ndifon had sued the vice chancellor of UNICAL and three others as defendants, expressing his displeasure over what he described as dragging his image to the mud even when he did nothing wrong.
In the suit before a National Industrial Court sitting in Calabar, other defendants in the matter include UNICAL Registrar and Prof. Dorathy Oluwagbemi-Jacob.
Ndifon, in the suit, accused the vice chancellor of colluding with the LAWSAN president (Unical chapter), Mr. Obi Benedict Otu, with one of the VC’s nieces, one Destiny Omokiti, to stage-manage a protest against him, so as to pull him down.
According to him, “Shortly after the said protest, Mr. Otu issued a statement where he revealed that he deliberately hid his intention and real purpose of the protest from innocent students, who were freshers and upon thier concealment of purpose, tendered a public apology, that excerpt went viral at the social media.
“My right and freedom of movement to the University of Càlabar premises has been restricted and curtailed by order of the vice chancellor. I am gravely prejudiced on account thereof.
“To remove me from office as Dean of Law Faculty without any prior vote taken at a meeting of faculty of law board for purpose, constitutes a departure from the prescriptions of the University of Calabar Act.”
Reacting to the suit, the university’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Effiong Eyo, said the institution only set up a panel to investigate allegations against the embattled Dean of Law Faculty.
He said: “No one has found him guilty, what we did was to investigate the alleged misconduct but since he felt court was the only option, we will be there for the hearing.”
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