Prof. Cyril Ndifon, the suspended Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL) on Tuesday, alleged that pictures extracted from his phone, in the alleged sexual harassment offence, were edited.
Ndifon told Justice James Omotosho of a Federal High Court in Abuja that the pictures alleged to have been extracted from his phone by the the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) were edited.
The suspended lecturer stated this while being led in evidence as 1st defence witness (DW-1) by his lawyer, Joe Agi, SAN.
He said in the pictures, he did not see his face nor that of the prosecution star witness, identified as TKJ.
“I did not send any nude photographs neither did I solicit for any.
“This (Oppo phone) is not the phone I used to chat with her (alleged rape victim).
“She has another number which she used to chat with me,” he said.
He said ICPC admitted in the open court that they did not ask for the girl’s phone to verify the pictures.
When asked about “Exhibit H” which contained pictures and chats allegedly exchanged between him and the alleged rape victim, he said: “All these pictures are not from my phone.
“Looking at it, slide 661 shows that this document has been edited.
“I haven’t gone through the whole document so I don’t know which other part was edited.
“I watched the video slide, but I didn’t see my face or TKJ’s (name of the girl withheld).
“The ICPC didn’t invite me to where they were doing the extraction and I haven’t been told about who told ICPC about the complain.”
Ndifon told the court that TKJ, who is now a student of the Faculty of Law in UNICAL, made her statement to ICPC on Nov. 9, 2023 and Nov 10, 2023 after he was already charged to court on Oct. 30, 2023.
He alleged that TKJ was admitted as a student after testifying against him, despite not being qualified.
The suspended lecturer said she was listed as number one, on the notice for those who wrote supplementary exams for Faculty of Law.
Ndifon expressed shock that the prosecution witness (PW) came to testify as he was not even in the position to assist her, being that he was no longer in the Faculty of Law at the time of the allegation.
“The allegation against me occurred when I was no longer in the Faculty of Law, so she cannot say I had asked for oral sex or any other advances.
“I’m totally shocked she came to testify, because nothing like that happened,” he insisted.
The suspended dean said he neither sent nor requested for explicit photographs from anyone.
He accepted knowing TKJ through her uncle in the UK, who informed him that she allegedly paid someone in the Vice Chancellor’s office the sum of N100,000 to help her secure admission into the Faculty of Law in the University, but the person failed.
According to Ndifon, her uncle then asked me to help recover the money since admission had closed but I felt insulted and refused to respond, having scored 102 in her JAMB exam.
The embattled professor told the court that TKJ reached out to him later and told him that she had enrolled for the Diploma programme and he advised her to study hard in order to gain admission through direct entry into the Faculty of Law.
Ndifon, who said he has three phones, said the iPhone was his main line, and not the Oppo phone where the photographs and images were found.
He said he used to chat with the star witness, using his main line.
Ndifon was cross examined by ICPC’s counsel, Osuobeni Akponimisingha, before Justice Omotosho adjourned proceedings until Feb. 12 and Feb. 13 for continuation of trial.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ICPC had, on Jan. 25, 2024, re-arraigned Ndifon alongside his lawyer, Sunny Anyanwu, on four counts bordering on alleged sexual harassment and attempt to perverse the cause of justice.
The commission had alleged that Ndifon, while being the Dean of the Faculty Law, UNICAL, requested a female Diploma student, identified as TKJ, to send him her “pornographic, indecent and obscene photographs of herself” through Whatsapp chats.
Anyanwu, who is one of the lawyers in the defence, was joined in the amended charge filed on Jan. 22, 2024, by the ICPC on allegation that he called one of the prosecution witnesses on her mobile telephone during the pendency of the charge against Ndifon to threaten her.
They, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.(NAN)
