I Didn’t Solicit Her Nude Photos, UNICAL Professor Tells Court
The suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, Prof. Cyril Ndifon, on Tuesday, told Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, that he did not send or request explicit photographs from anyone in the sexual harassment case brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
Ndifon, alongside his lawyer, Samuel Anyanwu, is standing trial on four counts of alleged sexual harassment, cybercrime, and attempt to pervert the course of justice.
The commission alleged that Prof. Ndifon while serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at UNICAL, requested a female diploma student to send him “pornographic, indecent, and obscene photographs of herself” through WhatsApp chats.
Anyanwu, one of the lawyers for the defence, was joined in the amended charge filed on January 22, 2024, by the ICPC on the allegation that he called one of the prosecution witnesses on her mobile phone during the pendency of the charge against Ndifon to threaten her.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them.
At Tuesday’s resumed proceedings, Ndifon, led in evidence by his counsel, Joe Agi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said he was questioned by ICPC officers about an old rape case but was not informed about the star witness, identified as TKJ, until he was charged to court.
Ndifon acknowledged knowing TKJ through her uncle in the UK, who informed him that she had paid someone in the Vice Chancellor’s office the sum of N100,000 to help her secure admission into the Faculty of Law at the university, but the person failed.
According to him, her uncle asked him to help recover the money since admission had closed. Ndifon said he felt insulted and refused to respond, adding that TKJ scored 102 in her JAMB examination.
The professor told the court that TKJ later reached out to him, stating that she had enrolled in the diploma program. He said he advised her to study hard to gain admission through direct entry into the Faculty of Law.
Ndifon said he owns three phones and that his primary line is on an iPhone, not the Oppo phone where the photographs and images were allegedly found. He claimed he used his primary line to chat with the star witness.
He also stated that the pictures allegedly extracted from his phone by the ICPC were edited, adding that neither his face nor that of the witness appeared in any of the pictures.
“I did not send any nude photographs, nor did I solicit for any. This Oppo phone is not the one I used to chat with her. She has another number she used to chat with me,” he said.
“ICPC did not ask for her phone to check; they said it themselves,” he added.
When asked about Exhibit H, which contains pictures and chats allegedly exchanged between himself and TKJ, he said, “All these pictures are not from my phone. Looking at it, slide 661 shows that this document has been edited. I haven’t gone through the whole document, so I don’t know which other parts were edited.”
“I watched the video slide, but I didn’t see my face or TKJ’s. The ICPC didn’t invite me to where they were doing the extraction, and I haven’t been told who informed the ICPC about the complaint,” he stated.
The professor told the court that TKJ, who is now a student of the Faculty of Law at UNICAL, made a statement to the ICPC on November 9 and 10, 2023, after he was charged in court.
He alleged that she was admitted as a student after testifying against him, despite not being qualified. He further claimed that she was listed as number one on notice for those to write supplementary exams in law.
Ndifon expressed shock that the witness came to testify, as he was no longer in the Faculty of Law at the time of the allegation.
He said, “The allegation against me occurred when I was no longer in the Faculty of Law, so she cannot say I had asked for oral sex or made any other advances.
“I’m shocked she came to testify because nothing like that happened,” he added.
During cross-examination by ICPC counsel, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, Ndifon admitted that lecturers in the Faculty of Law at the university also teach at the diploma institute.
He acknowledged knowing one Dr Owoche, a lecturer in the Faculty of Law but said he was unaware if Owoche also taught at the institute.
Ndifon was reminded of a 2015 case involving a 20-year-old 400-level student who accused him of rape. He admitted that the student had been caught in exam malpractice at her 100 level but denied being the one who caught her cheating.
He acknowledged that the matter escalated after the school wrote to the Nigerian Law School, Bwari, about the said malpractice.
Ndifon admitted to being part of the committee that investigated the exam malpractice case against the student. A document from the Council for Legal Education that included his signature was presented to him.
Akponimisingha sought to tender the document as evidence before the court, but Ndifon’s counsel, Joe Agi, objected, stating that it is a public document and should be certified before being tendered.
The ICPC responded, stating that the first page is a Certified True Copy and referencing the other documents attached.
In a short ruling, Justice Omotosho dismissed the objection from the defence counsel, admitted the document as Exhibit DWG, and adjourned proceedings until February 12 and 13 for the continuation of cross-examination.
I Didn’t Solicit Her Nude Photos, UNICAL Professor Tells Court is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
