A Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an order for the remand of Prof. Cyril Ndifon, the suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), in the Kuje Correctional Centre. Justice James Omotosho also directed that one of Ndifon’s lawyers, Mr. Sunny Anyanwu, be remanded in the correctional center pending the hearing of their bail application.
This decision came after Ndifon and Anyanwu were re-arraigned on an amended four-count charge related to alleged sexual harassment and attempts to pervert the course of justice.
The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) is the complainant in the case, with Prof. Cyril Ndifon and Mr. Sunny Anyanwu as the 1st and 2nd defendants, respectively, in the amended charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/511/2023.
In count one, Ndifon is accused of causing a diploma student of UNICAL, identified as Miss TKJ (pseudonym), to send pornographic, indecent, and obscene photographs of herself to him via WhatsApp messages on his mobile phone number (08037066222) between May and September 2023, while he served as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at UNICAL. This act is alleged to contravene and be punishable under Section 24 of the Cybercrime (Prohibition & Prevention) Act 2015.
In count three, Anyanwu is alleged to have, in November 2023 or thereabouts, while the charge against Ndifon was pending, contacted one of the prosecution witnesses via phone on the instruction of Ndifon. Anyanwu is accused of threatening the witness to deter her from cooperating with the ICPC’s criminal investigation against Ndifon, with the intention of perverting the course of justice. This conduct is said to be punishable under Section 182 of the Penal Code Cap. 532 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, 2006.
Previously, on January 10, Justice Omotosho had granted Ndifon temporary bail to undergo glaucoma surgery.
