By Charles Ogbu
This is Barrister Bright Emeka Ngene, an Enugu-based lawyer and Labour Party lawmaker-elect for Enugu South Urban Constituency. Barr. Bright has been incarcerated at the Enugu Correctional Centre since July 28, 2024. Over a year now.
Bright Ngene’s travail began when he contested for the Enugu South State Constituency seat and defeated his PDP opponent. The PDP went to court, citing over-voting in two polling units but the court struck out the case. The PDP candidate appealed and won, and the court ordered a rerun in the two PUs with less than 5000 registered votes.
After the court judgement, there was pressure on those who won on LP to decamp to give PDP a majority stake in the House of Assembly. Almost all the LP members decamped to the PDP, but Barr. Ngene refused, and that was where his real issue with the powers that be took a more serious turn.
First, INEC announced a rerun. When their plan to hijack the process for PDP failed, they cancelled the rerun, citing security challenges. While a new date for the cancelled rerun was still being awaited, the PDP government in the state used a few members from Bright’s community of Akwuke to resurrect an old community dispute, accusing him of embezzling community fund when he served as a member of the Town Union. The Nigeria Police Force, Enugu state command, immediately arrested and charged him with conspiracy and theft before a magistrate court presided over by E.D Onwu and within a week, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison. He wasn’t allowed access to his lawyer. And Barr. Ngene was immediately moved to prison.
It took almost forever for the magistrate’s court to release the Certified True Copy of the Judgement to enable Barr. Ngene’s team proceed on appeal. Due to the not-so-hidden government interference in the case, two different judges have recused themselves from the case, the latest being Justice C.O. Ajah in March 2025. And since then, the state Chief Judge has refused to assign the matter to another judge, leaving Barr. Ngene to continue to rot in jail. His constituency has been protesting for his release. The picture below was one of the placards in one of such protests held at the conference centre, venue of the ongoing NBA conference, where his constituency called on the NBA to intervene in freeing one of their own from unjust incarceration.
On August 16, 2025, INEC Nigeria finally conducted the long-awaited by-election with Barr. Bright Ngene soundly defeating his opponent yet again, this time, he won right from inside of the prison despite heavy cash inducement his opponent and his powerful backers in the state govt distributed to buy votes.
To Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, the executive governor of Enugu state, what is happening to Bright and all the attendant black market Police/judicial wuruwuru COULD NEVER have happened without your approval. You wanted to pressure the LP lawmakers to decamp as a way of strengthening your hold on power, and you have succeeded. It is time to free this innocent man. And free the people of Akwuke too. Akwuke is the only community in the entire Enugu state without electricity for years.
The only community where people are asked to pay Land Use Charge ON THEIR ANCESTRAL LAND. Akwuke owns Garriki market generating billions for your government but the road leading to the community from that same Garriki is not motorable. You took over their beach which is the only source of revenue for the community and major source of employment for their youths and gave them nothing in return. Having taken everything from them, at least, leave their elected representative to represent them! You can’t be hosting the NBA conference while your leg is on the neck of one of their members.
To the honourable Attorney General of Enugu State, Kingsley Udeh (SAN), permit me to tell you a short story of one case we treated at the Enugu State ENDSARS Judicial Panel on Police Brutality, headed by your own father, Justice Kingsley Udeh (retd), with other eminent people like Prof. Joy Ezeilo, Osmond Ugwu, myself – Charles Ogbu – as the representative of Enugu youth and two other members.
There was a case brought before us where a magistrate whose name I choose not to mention, accepted a photocopy of a case file (as against the original) from the police and used same to sit in judgement over an innocent Real Estate man charged with murder. Interestingly, even when the police later applied to withdraw the case on the ground that they charged the man in error and have since arrested the real person that committed the crime of murder and charged him before a court of competent jurisdiction, the magistrate descended into the arena by refusing the police application to withdraw the case and went ahead to remand the man in prison for a murder he didn’t commit even when he knew he had no jurisdiction over the case and that by accepting a photocopy of the case file and using same to write to the office of the department of public prosecution (DPP) seeking advice on the case, the man will remain in prison forever as the DPP will only entertain original case file, not photocopy. Our Judicial Panel headed by your good father who is also my Uncle summoned the magistrate who appeared and after hearing from him and establishing that indeed, he carried out a grave injustice for reasons not unconnected with govt interference, we unianimously agreed to go outside our Terms Of Reference by ordering the release of the man. No law should be devoid of conscience. Your father taught us that. Use your good office to end the judicial fraud going on in the case of Barr. Bright Ngene.
To the NBA president, Afam Osigwe, Afam Osigwe (SAN) and the revered Ubani Monday Onyekachi Ubani Monday Onyekachi, please, kindly use your good offices to look into this case. We are not saying that Barr. Ngene is above the law. We are saying that the state executive and the state judiciary (which are basically one and the same, if we are being honest) should stop treating Barrister Ngene BENEATH the law!
The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.
The protest at the NBA-AGC 2025 over Barr. Bright Ngene’s incarceration shows how politics and justice are still dangerously entangled in Nigeria, and lawyers cannot ignore it.