The Federal High Court in Abuja has fixed Nov. 17 for judgment in a sexual harassment case filed against suspended University of Calabar lecturer Prof. Cyril Ndifon.
Justice James Omotosho fixed the date after counsel for the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Osuobeni Akponimisingha, and the defence lawyer, Joe Agi, SAN, adopted their final written addresses in the case.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ndifon is the suspended Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), accused of sexually harassing some female students of the school.
The suspended professor closed his defence after calling two witnesses to counter the allegations levelled against him and his co-defendant, Sunny Anyanwu, by the anti-corruption commission.
While Ndifon was the first defence witness (DW-1), CSP Babagana Mingali, a forensic analyst who works at the laboratory of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), was the DW-2.
Justice Omotosho had, on March 6, 2024, dismissed the no-case submission filed by Ndifon and Anyanwu against the ICPC charge.
The judge, in a ruling, held that the evidence led by the prosecution constituted a prima facie case against the duo.
The judge, therefore, ordered Ndifon and Anyanwu to enter their defence.
The ICPC, in the alleged sexual harassment charge, preferred a four-count amended charge against Ndifon and Anyanwu, who was earlier a member of his team of lawyers.
They were accused of sexual harassment, cybercrime, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The ICPC alleged 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.
Anyanwu, one of the defence lawyers, was joined in the amended charge filed on Jan. 22, 2024, by the commission on the allegation that he called the star witness on her mobile phone during the pendency of the charge against Ndifon to threaten her.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to all the counts.
The anti-corruption commission had, on Feb. 14, 2024, closed its case against the suspended professor Anyanwu.
ICPC counsel Akponimisingha informed Justice Omotosho after Bwaigu Fungo, the fourth prosecution witness and a forensic and intelligence analyst with the commission, was cross-examined by the defence lawyer. (NAN)
