Contempt Of Court: Lawyer Effiong Moved To Uyo Prisons

By Uche Mbah

A Human Rights Lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who was recently jailed by the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, for alleged contempt of Court has been moved.

The controversial sentencing has put the Judiciary under trial, with the scale in the court of public opinion tipping against the heads-up of the State judiciary.

Already the convict has spent two weeks out of his one month jail term before he was moved.

This may not be unconnected with planned protests  friends and family,  human rights lawyers and well wishers, planned for Thursday (today) in Uyo to draw attention to his continuous detention even after the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, had protested that Justice Ekaette did not follow due process in the contempt trial. The NBA has decided to take the case to National Judicial Commission, NJC.

Effiong was transfered Wednesday from the Ikot Ekpene Medium Security Custodial Center to the Uyo Custodial Center.

Augustine Asuquo, lawyer and colleague to Effiong, told CrossRiverWatch, a local tabloid:

“I went to Ikot Ekpene to see him this morning, and I was told he has been transferred to Uyo, and I am heading there now to see him.

“I wonder why they will do that because Uyo (custodial center) is not even a safe place for him. They are saying he was sent on quarantine to Ikot Ekpene, and they have to bring him here now,” the legal practitioner said.

Recall that Effiong was remanded for alleged contempt of Court by the Chief Judge of the state while defending a fellow lawyer, Leo Ekpenyong, in a defamation suit filed by Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State.

Effiong had earlier filed a motion asking the Chief Judge to recuse herself on the likelihood of bias.

On the day he was jailed he had protested the order by Obot, asking a Premium Times Reporter out of the Court room. He had also protested the presence of two armed Mobile Policemen in the Court, and asked Obot to send them out because he did not feel safe with them around. An angry Obot, disgusted with Effiong’s carriage, ordered him down from the bar, and Jailed him for one month.

The Judge found his request contemptuous.

An unnamed relative  told CrossRiverWatch that he was scared for Mr. Effiong’s life. “I have been informed that he has been moved, and I am not happy. Maybe, they want to be monitoring him because the Uyo prison is next to the Chief Judge’s office and the Governor’s office,” the relative said