Court of Appeal clears Fidelity Bank in fundamental rights case

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has maintained the two-year prison sentence for Professor Cyril Osim Ndifon, the former Dean of Law at the University of Calabar, for soliciting explicit images from a female student. The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) announced this on Friday, September 25, 2026, stating that the appellate court ruled on September 18, 2026, in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CR/1798/2025, confirming the Federal High Court's judgment on Count One of the charges.

Ndifon was found guilty under Section 24 of the Cybercrime Act, 2015, following ICPC evidence of electronic communications between him and the student. The Federal High Court, led by Justice James Omotosho, had convicted him on November 17, 2025, on both Count One and Count Two, sentencing him to two and five years in prison, respectively, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Ndifon appealed both the conviction and sentences, but the Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction on Count One and the two-year prison term. The ICPC alleged that Ndifon's actions towards female students while he was Law Faculty Dean at the University of Calabar led to the case. They provided electronic communications as evidence supporting the claim.

However, the Court of Appeal dismissed the allegations of Count Two, which involved Ndifon offering an undue advantage in violation of Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, as the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to handle that charge. The ICPC plans to contest this decision in a higher court.

The ICPC emphasized that they will continue to pursue cases of corruption, abuse of power, and similar offenses, especially when institutional authority is allegedly exploited to harm individuals under an accused's control.