Akwa Ibom CJ sends lawyer to prison for one month
Chief Justice of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, has sent lawyer Inibehe Effiong to prison for one month.
Effiong ,who posted the information on his Facebook page, said the judge sent him to jail in the course of defending his client, Leo Ekyenyong.
Ekyenyong was dragged to court for libel by Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel.
Effiong said he had requested that the judge tell armed policemen in the court to excuse themselves. According to him, rather than accept his plea, Justice Obot ordered that he be taken to Uyo prison for one month.
“I have just been sent to Uyo prison by the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, for one month for defending Leo Ekpenyong in the libel suit filed by Governor Udom Emmanuel.
“The Chief Judge of Akwa Akwa Ibom ordered a Premium Times reporter to leave the court. I said my lord, we were thinking that since the proceeding is public, that members of the public should be allowed to observe the proceeding. My Lord asked me to proceed with cross examination.
“I obeyed. I informed the court that I was not feeling comfortable and safe having two armed mobile policemen seated inside the courtroom, that it was strange and that I felt unsafe. I applied for the judge to excuse the armed policemen from the courtroom.
“The Hon. Chief Judge then ordered me to step out of the Bar, that she was sending me to prison. She then ordered the policemen to take me to Uyo prison. And that I should be in jail for one month. I am waiting inside the courtroom for them to bring the conviction warrant.
“I will be going to the Uyo Correctional Centre now. I have not done anything. I wasn’t even opportune to say anything before the ‘conviction’. Two lawyers in court appealed to the Hon. Chief Judge but my Lord insisted that I must be jailed.
“The moment My Lord entered the courtroom, His Lordship ordered the orderly attached to the court to go out and bring the armed policemen inside the courtroom. I started feeling that there was going to be trouble. After the Premium Times reporter was sent out, I raised the issue.
“I applied to the court to ask the armed policemen with AK47 to leave the courtroom, that it was not proper and that I felt extremely unsafe and uncomfortable. My Lord then started writing, I thought it was going to be a ruling on my application to excuse the officers.
“Unknown to me, my Lord was writing committal order to send me to Uyo prison. I wasn’t even given the opportunity to say anything. My Lord just ordered me to remove my wig and gown, that I was going to prison.
“Meanwhile, we have a pending motion for my Lord to disqualify and recuse himself from the case on grounds of bias or likelihood of bias. History will vindicate the just,” he wrote on Facebook.
In another post Effiong said he had been taken back to the court for another order for him to be transferred to Ikot Ekpene prison after he was rejected at Uyo prison due to COVID-19 protocols.
“They’re saying that I can’t be jailed in Uyo prison because of COVID protocol, that I have to be in Ikot Ekpene prison until COVID test. Uyo prison has rejected me. We are going back to the court now for His Lordship to determine where I should be jailed. History will vindicate the just.”
