Female students alleged that the professor deliberately failed them, sometimes repeatedly, in the course he was handling because they refused to give in to his sexual demands.
A female student at the University of Calabar has narrated how a law professor allegedly forced her to have oral sex with him in his office on campus.
Other female students also shared graphic accounts of their encounter with the professor, Cyril Ndifon.
The university, which is in Cross River State, south-south Nigeria, has been in the spotlight lately after some female students accused the now suspended professor of sexual harassment.
Mr Ndifon was the dean of the university's faculty of law before his suspension over the allegations.
A 200 level female student in the law faculty told an investigation panel that the professor took advantage of her and forced her to have oral sex with him inside his office in the school when she was seeking a transfer to the faculty from the Department of Conflict Studies, according to a report of the panel seen by PREMIUM TIMES.
A copy of the report released to the public has the student's name and that of other survivors redacted.
Mr Ndifon had allegedly assured the student that he would help her get into the law faculty provided she was willing to be available for sex anytime he wanted it, the student told the panel.
"Prof Ndifon called her to come to the office the next day and when she came, he locked the office and brought out his penis and told her that if she sucked his penis, he would accept her into the faculty.
"After much pressure from the suspended Dean and feeling frustrated, this survivor gave in and sucked his penis and almost got choked as Prof Ndifon held her head while forcing his penis into her mouth," the report said.
The student said someone else, not Mr Ndifon, ultimately helped her to get admission into the faculty.
The report said when the professor later stumbled on the student and got to know that she was now a student in his faculty, he asked her to meet him again in his office but she tactfully declined.
"She lied to him that she was in the hospital," the report said.
According to the report, the student read out to the panel members various text messages she allegedly got from the suspended dean. She also presented before them the voice notes allegedly sent to her by Mr Ndifon, warning her not to appear before the panel.
Nine survivors appeared, either physically or virtually, before the seven-member panel. They gave their testimonies and presented evidence of sexual harassment against Mr Ndifon.
Almost all of them said the harassment occurred in Mr Ndifon's office.
They alleged that the professor deliberately failed them, sometimes repeatedly, in the course he was handling because they refused to give in to his sexual demands.
The panel, in its report, said it verified the evidence submitted by the survivors, and recommended that the professor be made to appear before a disciplinary committee of the university.
Mr Ndifon reportedly refused to appear before the panel.
PREMIUM TIMES could not immediately reach the professor for comment as his phone line was switched off as at the time of filing this report.
Attempted rape
A survivor, who graduated from the faculty of Law, University of Calabar, and who has been practising law for 16 years, told the panel how Mr Ndifon - he was not a professor then - allegedly tried to rape her in his office. He was supervising the student's final year project then.
"She went to see Mr Ndifon to discuss an issue regarding her project. She waited for her turn to see him and after a while, he opened his door and invited her inside.
"Without suspecting anything, Ndifon quickly locked the door behind her. While trying to figure out what he was up to, he started unzipping his trousers to bring out his genitals while launching at her to hold her down. Realising what was about to happen, she started crying and pleading that he should open the door and let her go. Ndifon ignored her pleas and continued, trying to embrace her while undressing at the same time. She was traumatised by the whole situation and immediately became sick to the point of feeling faint and vomiting all over the office," says the panel report.
Another attempted rape
The panel report also captured the testimony of a survivor who alleged that Mr Ndifon forcefully tried to have sex with her in his office.
"When she entered the office, he asked her to get one big brown envelope where he had kept other files and books. He asked her to check for her script and when she saw her script, the 'C' grade was boldly written on it. He tried to convince her to have sex with him if she wanted him to record that score for her, which was her real score.
"He brought out his penis and grabbed her and asked her to give him oral sex if she didn't want to have real sex with him. Ndifon pinned her down to the couch with his two legs and grabbed her neck, and wanted to force his penis into her mouth. She felt strangled, started coughing profusely, and almost choked. It was at this point that Ndifon left her and started apologising.
"She stood up from the couch and fell down as she had got weak struggling with him. She left the office feeling utterly humiliated and harassed."
'He kissed her neck, forehead severally'
One of the survivors narrated how she and her female friend went to school late and almost missed their examination in an elective course - Social and Political Philosophy - because of "shortage" of answer booklets but for Mr Ndifon's intervention. He provided them with booklets.
After the examination, the two went to Mr Ndifon's office to thank him for the help. The professor, according to the survivor, said he had someone in the department and that he (Ndifon) could help them get good grades if they did not do well in the examination.
Allegedly on Mr Ndifon's prompting, the student said she gave the professor her matriculation number and that of her friend. And afterwards, Mr Ndifon asked them to see him in his office the next day.
"The next day she and her friend went to see him and as they were about entering the office, he sent her friend on an errand. When she and Prof Ndifon entered the office, the latter locked the door and asked her to give him a hug. Initially, she felt there was nothing wrong in giving the Professor a hug. But when she hugged him, Prof Ndifon pressed her so tightly to his body and brought his lips to kiss hers and she started struggling with him to free herself. He kissed her neck and forehead severally. She got free when her friend returned," according to the panel report.
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The panel said it confirmed from the lecturer who taught Social and Political Philosophy that Mr Ndifon had sent the students' matriculation numbers to him, apparently with the intention to influence their grade in the examination but that the lecturer had finished marking the scripts and the survivor had a B grade before he got Mr Ndifon's text message.
There was a case of a survivor who grabbed a bottle in Mr Ndifon's office and threatened to hit the professor who had allegedly "grabbed her and was trying to bring out her breast."
Panel's recommendations
The panel said it had established that the suspended professor violated the university's rules and regulations by "using his official position to both intimidate and bargain for sexual favour from female students in the Faculty of Law."
It also said that it had established a case of students' exploitation against Mr Ndifon.
"He had been perpetrating cruelty against students by forestalling the graduation of especially some female students at the appropriate time by withholding and refusing to release their results and threatening some that they would never graduate from the faculty or go to the law school," the panel says in its findings.
"The suspended dean should be made to refund over N3 million realised from the payments made by the law students for the law journal which he neither published nor gave to the students.
"The university should make a rule to stop lecturers from asking students to come and see them at odd (after official) hours and if need be, encourage the culture of not locking their offices when consulting with students. This is consistent with global best practice," the panel said in its recommendations.
