Victoria OparaA Federal High Court in Abuja, has granted bail to suspended Dean of Law, University of Calabar (UNICAL) Cyril Ndifon, who was accused of sexually harassing students of his faculty.
Ndifon’s lawyer Sunny Anyanwu who was arraigned with him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICIPC), was also granted bail by the court.
Both men are standing trial for sexual harassment and attempts to perverse the course of justice.
The trial judge James Omotoso granted Ndifon bail to the tune of N250 million with two sureties.
His lawyer Anyanwu was also granted bail of N50 million with two sureties.
“The first defendant and his two sureties must submit their bank statements. The first defendant must submit his International passport to the court. The second defendant is granted bail in the sum of N50m with two sureties who will submit their bank statements.
“The defendants must file an undertaking not to interfere with the case, readiness to attend trial and not to cause delay,” the judge said.
In October 2023, Ndifon was arrested by the State Security Service (SSS) at the request of the ICPC after he failed to honour invitations following allegations of sexual assault levelled against him.
He was accused Ndifon of sexual harassment during a protest by female Law students of UNICAL on August 15, 2023.
The students carried placards that read, “Law students are not Bonanza, Prof. Ndifon should stop grabbing us. The Faculty of Law is not a brothel,” “Ndifon must go for our sanity,” among other inscriptions.
He was suspended by the university two days later, and a panel was set up to investigate the allegations.
Although Ndifon denied the allegations and described them as lies, this is his second suspension for similar reasons. The first time was in 2015, when a final-year student accused him of raping her in his office.
He was remanded in prison in January 2024, along with Anyanwu, who called and threatened the star witness in the case.