The Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday, sentenced Prof. Cyril Ndifon, suspended Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL), to five years’ imprisonment without an option of fine.
Justice James Omotosho, in a judgment, held that the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) had been able to prove the evidence in counts one and two beyond reasonable doubt against the 1st defendant.
Justice Omotosho, therefore, sentenced Ndifon to two-year jail term in count one and five-year imprisonment in count two which must run concurrently.
The judge, however, discharged and acquitted Sunny Anyanwu, who was earlier a member of Ndifon‘s team of lawyers, of the charges against him.
He held that the anti-corruption commission was unable to link the offences in counts three and four in which Anyanwu’s name appeared, to the codefendant.
Our correspondent reports that the ICPC had, in the amended charge dated Jan. 19, 2024, preferred four counts against Ndifon (1st defendant) and his lawyer, Sunny Anyanwu (2nd defendant)Although Ndifon was initially the sole defendant in the sexual harassment charge, Anyanwu was later joined as 2nd defendant in the amended charge.
The development followed allegations that Anyanwu had attempted to pervert the course of justice by calling the star witness on her mobile phone during the pendency of the charge against Ndifon to threaten her.
Anyanwu, while being a lawyer to Ndifon, was said to have called TKJ not not either honour the ICPC’s invitation or write any statement in respect of the allegations of sexual harrament case against his client.
In the amended charge, counts one and two accused the professor of harassing some female students of the school sexually.
The commission said that Ndifon, while serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at UNICAL, asked a female Diploma student, identified as TKJ and a star witness, to send him “pornographic, indecent and obscene photographs of herself” through WhatsApp chats.
