The suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, Prof. Cyril Ndifon, on Wednesday, admitted sending money on several occasions to a female diploma student who levelled sexual harassment allegations against him......CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE>>>>>
Ndifon appeared before Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, in the case 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.
ICPC alleged that Prof. Ndifon while serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at UNICAL, asked the female diploma student identified as TKJ 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 the resumed proceedings on Wednesday, ICPC’s counsel, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, continued the cross-examination of Ndifon.
During cross-examination, the professor denied that the conversations, pictures and videos extracted by the ICPC were from his phone.
“They’re not if you look at it, we can’t vouch for them; they have been edited. I don’t even know where they got the conversations and videos from,” he said.
He said he did not present the phone he claimed to use in communicating with the victim because the ICPC also did not request the victim’s phone.
“The prosecution did not deem it necessary to investigate her phone, so why should I bring mine?” he said.
Prof. Ndifon admitted to having sent N3000 to TKJ from a first bank account and that he did that several times. He also reiterated that he did not solicit her nude pictures.
“She has always been like a daughter to me. I got to know her from her uncle, so I’ve sent more than 3000 to her, sometimes cash. She did not send her nude pictures to me and I did not demand her nude pictures,” he said.
After cross-examination, Justice Omotosho adjourned till February 13 for a continuation of the trial.