The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the two-year jail term imposed on Cyril Osim Ndifon, former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), for sexually harassing female students. The appellate court's ruling, delivered on September 18, was announced by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) in a press statement on September 25, 2026.
Background of the Case
The former dean faced charges of sexual harassment spanning a decade during his tenure at the university. Forensic investigations revealed that he solicited sex and explicit content from female students. The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction handed down by the Federal High Court, Abuja, in 2025, which had found Ndifon guilty of demanding pornographic, indecent, and obscene photographs from a female student through electronic communication.
Sexual harassment allegations against Ndifon first surfaced in 2015, when he was suspended by the university following rape accusations involving a female law student. His reinstatement a year later was overturned by a National Industrial Court decision, but he was fully reinstated in 2022.
Resurfacing of Allegations and Forensic Evidence
The allegations resurfaced in 2023 when female law students staged a demonstration against the professor, holding placards that detailed his harassment. The placards read: "Enough of the Law School List Manipulation," "Prof Ndifon must leave for the sake of our sanity," and "Law girls are not bonanzas," among other inscriptions. He was suspended again shortly after.
In 2024, while the case was in court, the ICPC's forensic investigation discovered illicit videos, texts, and nude photographs of a female diploma student on Ndifon's phones. In 2025, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, deemed the evidence against the former dean to be beyond reasonable doubt.
Details of the Charges and Sentencing
Count one claimed that Ndifon, between June and September 2023, used his position for self-gratification by demanding nude pictures and videos from a Year 2 Diploma female student on WhatsApp. In the second count, he was accused of requesting nude pictures from a 400-level female student of the Faculty of Law in exchange for making himself her project supervisor to guarantee favourable grades.
In count three, he was accused of demanding the photograph of a 16-year-old prospective post-UTME student to consider her for admission into the Faculty of Law. Count four alleged that he made a female student send him indecent and obscene photographs on WhatsApp between May and September 2023.
Justice Omotosho ruled that the ICPC proved counts one and two beyond a reasonable doubt. He sentenced Ndifon to a two-year jail term on count one and five years on count two, to run concurrently. Following the professor's appeal, the Court of Appeal upheld the two-year jail term, while ordering a fresh trial on the second count, according to the ICPC's statement.
