The suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Professor Cyril Ndifon, currently standing trial for alleged sexual harassment, has maintained that he had a consensual relationship with a diploma graduate, TKJ, who accused him of sexual coercion.
News About Nigeria reported that Ndifon, along with his lawyer, Sunny Anyanwu, is facing four counts of sexual harassment and gratification charges brought by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
In a no-case submission filed by Ndifon’s lawyer, Joe Agi (SAN), the professor urged the court to discharge and acquit him because of the evidence of a consensual relationship between him and TKJ.
Ndifon claimed that text messages exchanged between them conveyed love, affection, and concern for each other’s safety, arguing that the elements of fear, threat, or safety were not present.
The accused professor questioned the ICPC’s actions, alleging a violation of his fundamental human rights.
He said that the commission seized his phones without a court order and breached his right to privacy.
Ndifon criticised the ICPC for exploiting his personal data to investigate cyberstalking allegations and argued that such actions portrayed the commission as an ‘ungovernable monster’.
“The commission, who at this time was desperate to create, search for any conceivable crime seized the telephone of the 1stDefendant,t who was under their custody and without obtaining an order of the court as required by Section 45 of the Cyber Crime Act in breach of his fundamental right as guaranteed by Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution as amended broke into his phone and started going through his phone in search for an offense and without respect to his right to privacy.”
Furthermore, Ndifon called on the court to decline jurisdiction on the case, stating that TKJ’s appearance as a witness only surfaced after an amended charge was filed.
He argued that certain charges brought against him, including sending and receiving nude videos, fall outside the court’s jurisdiction based on the provisions of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2020.
The adoption of written addresses on the no-case submission has been scheduled for February 27, 2024.
