Suspended UNICAL Dean Claims Relationship Was Consensual With Diploma Graduate

Cyril Ndifon, the suspended dean of the University of Calabar’s Faculty of Law, has stated that he had a consensual relationship with TKJ, a diploma recipient whose name is concealed per the court’s order to protect her before he was accused of sexually harassing her.

In court, after the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission filed a four-count accusation against him, the woman said the professor forced her to have oral sex in order to be admitted into the institution’s LLB programme and demanded her virginity.

According to Punch, Ndifon asked the court to discharge and acquit the Professor in a copy of the no-case motion that Joe Agi (SAN), the Professor’s attorney, filed. Ndifon further said that their correspondence reflected a voluntary connection.

They expressed their love, affection, and worry for one another’s safety, the dean observed. It read; “What are the elements of the offence(a) causing fear (b) threat (c) fear for safety? None of the above elements were contained in count 1. Nor was there any evidence adduced to show fear, safety, or blackmail from TKJ or Professor Ndifon, particularly by Exhibit “H” The chats show clearly that both 1 Defendant and TKJ have a consensual relationship where they expressed their love, affection, and worries for each other safety particularly that of the 1 Defendant.”

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Ndifon also claimed that the ICPC violated his fundamental human rights by seizing his phones without a court order. He said; “The commission who at this time was desperate to create, search for any conceivable crime seized the telephone of the 1st Defendant 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 offence and without respect to his right to privacy.

“Then on seeing nude and pornographic pictures in the 1st Defendant’s phone jumped at the Cybercrime Act to investigate the so-called offence of cyberstalking. This is not only exposing them as an ungovernable monster but like a knight—errant that goes about looking for skirmishes and battles all over the Mace. My Lord if this is allowed to stand, then we are all in trouble. This cannot be the intention of the lawmakers or the law.”

In addition, Ndifon urged the court to deny jurisdiction over the case after Lucy Chima, a prosecution witness, claimed under cross-examination that although the prosecution had received multiple written and oral complaints, they had never identified TKJ as one of the complainants and that TKJ had not even been named as a witness in the original charge but had instead “surfaced after the amended charge was filed.”

He argues that the Corrupt Practice and Other Related Offences Act, 2020’s Sections 26(2) and 61(3) prohibit the court from considering any of the offences brought, so the counts 1 and 2, which deal with sending and receiving nude videos, as well as count 3 of the initial charge, are outside the court’s jurisdiction.

He added; “Now, let me turn to Count 4 in the original charge which is from the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act, 2015. From the Charge, proof of evidence before this Honourable Court, it is submitted that the case was not initiated by due process of law thereby depriving your lordship of jurisdiction.”

The 27th of February, 2024 has been set aside for the adoption of written addresses on the no-case submission.

A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.

Nnamdi Okoli