By Lillian Okenwa
As indignation continues to mount against the incarceration of rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Olumide Akpata has assured that the NBA will “leave no stone unturned” in securing his release.
Meanwhile, the Civil Society Consortium on Civic Space and other rights groups are still pressing for Effiong’s immediate release from prison.
“I have received positive feedback from the NBA 1st Vice President Mr. John Aikpokpo Martins regarding our member, Inibehe Effiong who was incarcerated this week on allegations of contempt of court, “said Akpata.
He further confided: “As I advised on Thursday, the NBA 1st Vice President was instructed to travel to Akwa Ibom State and leave no stone unturned in ensuring the release of Mr. Effiong. Mr. Aikpokpo Martins visited Inibehe at the Ikot Ekpene Correctional Centre in the company of the Chairman (NBA) Uyo Branch and has assured me that Inibehe is in good spirits. He has my mandate to remain in Akwa Ibom State and continue to work toward securing Mr Effiong’s release.”
On Wednesday, 27 July, the Chief Judge (CJ) of Akwa Ibom State, Hon. Justice Ekaette Obot, sent Effiong to one month in prison for raising safety concerns over the presence of armed mobile policemen in court.
According to a former president of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) Ayo Obe: “If the learned CJ was not bringing the grievance of previous encounters and the pending application that she recuses herself to the proceedings, those openly armed police would not have been inside the court. It seems to me that she was not merely anticipating trouble, she intended to find it. Unfortunately, Counsel pre-empted her by complying with the order to proceed with the witness (despite the pending prayer for her recusal) so another casus belli had to be found…. Let me add the frivolity that GOK (Ajayi, SAN) often puts his hand in his pocket when examining a witness. In the days when I used to sew and made a tailored skirt from our grey striped fabric, I made sure to include pockets so that I could do the same…” One can only imagine what would happen to a lawyer who attempted this in Justice Ekaette Obot’s court.
The embattled lawyer was in court to defend Leo Ekpenyong, a lawyer, in a libel suit filed by Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State.
In a statement on Sunday, the Civil Society Consortium on Civic Space accused the judge of taking sides with the state governor. “It is disturbing that the chief judge of the state will descend to the arena of conflict and take sides with the governor in a matter that she ought to be an impartial judge,” the statement reads.
Similarly, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) in a tweet, asked Governor Udom to order the release of the unlawfully detained lawyer.
“Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel must immediately and unconditionally release lawyer Inibehe Effiong, who has reportedly been sent to Uyo prison while in Court representing his client against the governor.” the group said, adding; “We will see in court if Effiong is not immediately released.”
In the same vein, African Action Congress, (AAC) and the Citizens Solutions Network, demanded that disciplinary action be taken against Justice Obot for what it described as reckless abuse of judicial authority and desecration of what ought to be the hallowed temple of justice.
Additionally, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana has vowed to secure the release of AAC’s National Legal Adviser, Inibehe Effiong. Reacting to the incarceration, Falana maintained that he (Effiong) did not commit any offence to warrant his imprisonment, and assured that “we shall secure his release.”
Falana further disclosed that: “In 1986, Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN was convicted for contempt in facie curiae and sentenced to 12 months imprisonment by Justice Ligali Ayorinde even though the maximum penalty is 3 months! The Court of Appeal freed him.
“In 1991, Justice Olugbani wanted to jail me for contempt ex facie curiae. The Court of Appeal set aside the contempt proceedings.
“Mr. Effiong Inibebe filed an application praying the Chief Judge to recuse herself. The motion has not been heard. But the CJ has sent him to jail to purge himself of contempt!
“In Abiola v FRN the appellant asked the Chief Justice and 8 other Justices of the Supreme Court to recuse themselves from hearing his appeal. The Justices granted the prayer without convicting Abiola’s lawyer, the late Chief GOK Ajayi SAN.”
“Likewise, Olukayode Ajulo described Effiong’s imprisonment as an abuse of judicial authority. Ajulo in a statement said, “The presiding judge, with respect, cannot be a judge in her case and our judges have been warned when faced with cases of contempt to be cautious in dealing with such cases.
“The Court of Appeal in the case of OBIUKWU v UGWUERUCHUKWU & ORS (2019) LPELR-46616(CA) has this to say to such situation; “Courts have always been admonished to be circumspect while handling contempt proceedings…
“Contempt of Court was not meant to be wielded by the Court as an instrument of intimidation, or a club of offence, to harass and subjugate and hew down litigants, lawyers and persons within the precincts of the Court, or outside. Contempt is not meant to be used as a weapon or means of showing strength and power by the Judge.
However, Adam Olori-Aje of Terseley Chambers, Abuja, and the Secretary-General, Muslim Lawyers Association of Nigeria (MULAN) touched on some more disturbing issues in the legal profession.
“Imagine if NBA national election is every year, this would no doubt keep the momentum of display of sense of concern and welfare by our aspirants and candidates frequently. Can you imagine the rate at which the show of love and kindness on the part of those that contested elections just vanished into the thin air? The son of our President of the Court of Appeal died in his sleep some days ago, all our platforms have maintained dead silence on it. Different headlines would have been flying around. A Magistrate was bulldozed out of the police station in Ikorodu on official assignment, maybe one or two headlines found it worthy of reportage. I just hope that we as lawyers have not completely imbibed the same practice of politicians we criticised and vilified always in our own microcosm political life too. That won’t be good enough though. Let’s keep the momentum high, not necessarily during the electioneering campaign alone…”
