The minister of women affairs, Ms Uju Ohaneye has allegedly threatening and intimidating to one of the students of the University of Calabar testifying before the panel investigating allegations of sexual harassment against the dean of the faculty of law, Prof Cyril Ndifon.
Female students in the faculty had protested against Ndifon, accusing him of sexual harassment, an allegation he denied.
In a leaked audio tape, the minister allegedly threatened one of the female victims of sexual assault that whoever lies against the professor in the ongoing investigation would go to jail.
She warned the student against going to the panel to tell something different from the conversation she had with her.
“I want you to be very careful because this thing is going to prove fire. If I were you, as you have already said to me, nobody raped you, nobody sexually harassed you, keep off from this case if I were you,” she said. But if she (vice chancellor) makes you to go there, she is recording whatever you people are saying in that panel and if she records you and I bring my own and get you contradicted and this man has gone to court, my ministry will join them and make you go to jail so that you will be an example to others,” she said.
The audio tape reads: “If your VC makes you to go and lie against somebody, you will go to jail, trust me. I want you to be very careful because your future is at stake. You can’t join anybody and maltreat a fellow human being and equally nobody wants you to be maltreated. The day I spoke with you, I recorded what you spoke and you told me the whole truth.
“I have contacted your VC, I don’t know what her plans are; I don’t want to quote anybody, I don’t equally want to condemn anybody or judge anybody. But I want you to be very careful because this thing is going to prove fire. If I were you, as you have already said to me, nobody raped you, nobody sexually harassed you, keep off from this case if I were you. But if she makes you to go there, she is recording whatever you people are saying in that panel and if she records you and I bring my own and get you contradicted and this man has gone to court, my ministry will join them and make you go to jail so that you will be an example to others.
“So I want you to be very, very careful. You are telling me if your VC permits you before you can come and see me, there is nothing she can do to you; she is not the one paying your school fees. So face your future by standing on the truth at all times. Save my number, when you have time to visit me, I will find a way to empower you people so that your life will be easier for you. I am a minister, I am above her by position, you know that.
“So don’t go and do anything that will put you into a very big trouble that will scandalise you in the whole world because this matter has gone far and beyond. Now, I won’t play what you people said to me except when you people try to deny it, that is when I will play it. I will conceal it because it’s something you told me in confidence. So, I am warning you to keep off from lying against anybody.”
Reacting to the minister’s intrusion, the vice chancellor of the university, Prof Florence Bisong pleaded with the minister to allow the investigation run its full course.
She described the minister’s audio message as a “disturbing dimension.”
“A new dimension has unfortunately reared its head in a way that has left us nonplussed with the leaked viral audio of intimidation and jail threats from the minister of women affairs, Mrs Uju Kennedy, on a few girls who were bold enough to come out to testify on an alleged age-long sexual harassment of female law students against Professor Ndifon.
“While I do not consider it expedient to respond to the disturbing audio, I wish to generally state that the students of the faculty of law on their own wrote and submitted a petition and protested against the suspended dean. And as I know, those who have testified before the panel on both sexual harassment and other violations were not prompted by anyone.
“The university should rather be commended for being on the right path which is directed towards academic excellence and creating an environment which is key to their survival in an “oppressive and dominant patriarchal culture that yields little or no space for women,” Bisong said.
She said the professor was being investigated on a plethora of issues and not just sexual harassment and it is hoped that at the end of the investigation, the outcome will be helpful to the university and society at large.
“To demonstrate the management’s interest in ensuring an objective, unbiased investigation, we accepted the request from some agencies and groups to serve as observers. Consequently, on the panel are representatives from Public Complaints Commission, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Nigeria Bar Association, Nigeria Police, Federation of Female Layers and University of Calabar Alumni
“We thought we were doing our colleague a fair opportunity to defend himself by instituting an investigative panel and at the end if he is found culpable, he would be brought before a disciplinary panel headed by the deputy vice chancellor academics,” she added.
