Daud Olatunji
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday sentenced the suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Calabar, Prof. Cyril Ndifon, to five years imprisonment after finding him guilty of sexually harassing his female students.
Justice James Omotosho convicted Ndifon on two out of the four-count charges filed against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC).
The court handed him two years on the first count and five years on the second, but ordered that the sentences run concurrently.
The judgment brings to an end a long-drawn case that had triggered national outrage and renewed calls for accountability in Nigerian tertiary institutions.
While delivering the verdict, Justice Omotosho held that the prosecution successfully proved that the former dean “engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct towards his students,” adding that the evidence against him was “credible, direct and convincing.”
The court, however, discharged and acquitted his co-defendant, Mr. Sunny Anyanwu, who was accused of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
According to the judge, the ICPC failed to establish any concrete evidence linking Anyanwu to the alleged obstruction.
The anti-graft agency had alleged that Ndifon used his position as dean to demand explicit and indecent photographs from female students, including one referred to in court under the pseudonym “TJK”, a diploma student.
TJK was among four witnesses who narrated their encounters with the embattled professor, detailing how he allegedly preyed on their vulnerability.
After the ICPC closed its case on February 14, 2024, the professor filed a no-case submission, insisting that the commission did not establish any wrongdoing.
The court dismissed the application on March 6, 2024, and ordered him to open his defence.
In his attempt to clear his name, Ndifon testified personally, while a forensic analyst from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), CSP Babagana Mingali, also appeared. Ndifon maintained his innocence and described the allegations as “fabricated and malicious.”
Justice Omotosho, however, ruled that the totality of evidence against Ndifon proved “beyond reasonable doubt” that he abused his office and violated his students.
Rights activists and gender–based violence advocates have hailed the verdict as a major breakthrough in the fight against sexual harassment in Nigeria’s universities, where many cases often go unpunished.
A legal practitioner who followed the proceedings said that the sentence “sends a clear message that impunity within academic circles will no longer be tolerated.”
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