HUMAN RIGHTS: The Akwa Ibom Chief Judge has backed down and conceded to the demand of the incarcerated human right lawyer, Inibehe Effiong and the civil rights community to release judgement sentencing him to jail for raising objections in court in a case he was lawfully appearing for his client.

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What We Know

Justice Ekaette Obot, the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom has been in a running battle with the Nigerian Bar Association and the civil rights community following her decision to order the detention of Inibehe Effiong about 22 days ago.

The human rights lawyer who is known for his outspoken nature on issues that catches his fancy was sent to jail by the judge on the 27^th of July following his disagreement with the Chief Judge for raising objections during a court proceeding.

This was disclosed by Effion in a tweet thread on Wednesday where he alleged that the presiding judge ordered police officers present in court to take him into custody and send him to serve a month prison term.

He alleged that the order was made by the judge when he “applied for the judge to excuse the armed policemen from the courtroom” as their presence made him “strange” and made him feel “unsafe”, he said.

Effion tweeted that he informed the judge he was “not feeling comfortable and safe having two armed mobile policemen seated inside the courtroom”, thereby prompting the judge to order his arrest and imprisonment for one month.

This according lawyers was also after the same judge earlier ordered a journalist out of the court room, which Effion objected to.

This action of the Chief Judge has since then attracted widespread condemnation around the country, especially within the legal community. Virtually all notable lawyers and civil right bodies have condemned the arbitrariness of the decision to jail Inibehe Effiong.

The NBA have said that Effiong was not given fair hearing as required by law and procedure for committal proceeding before the Chief Judge ordered his arrest and detention for one month. The NBA also threatened to petition Justice Ekaette Obot to the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC).

Effiong had earlier filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Uyo, praying the court to for an order compelling the release of a certified true copy of the judgement committing him to one month in prison on the 27^th of July judgment to enable him to appeal against it.

The law requires that the certified true copy of a judgement must be released within 7 days of the judgement. However, the said July 27^th judgement was released 21 days after in circumstances which has now come under scrutiny on whether it has been falsified before been released.

Clariform cannot confirm this and cannot confirm exactly the reason behind the for the delay in releasing the judgement.

Notable Quotes

In a tweet on 3^rd of August, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Olumide Akpata, while reacting to the action of the judge had said the following:

“Regardless of the conduct of Mr. Effiong in the courtroom on the date of the proceedings that led to his committal, one thing that has come out from the various accounts that the NBA has so far received is that Hon. Justice Ekaette Obot did not follow due process in the committal proceedings.”

“Mr. Effiong was not put in the dock, told what his wrong or contempt was, given fair hearing or even an opportunity to recant or purge himself (a courtesy that the Bench should, at the minimum, extend to counsel where counsel’s conduct is said to be contemptuous).

“This, on its face, not only runs afoul of known practice and procedure in such cases, but is also unconstitutional.

“In view of the foregoing and depending on the outcome of our ongoing investigations, the NBA may be forced to take this matter up with the National Judicial Council.” Akpata tweeted via his verified Twitter handle.

Also, following the release of the court judgement of 27^th July, a source quoted by SaharaReporters said the following:

“The Chief Judge is currently working round the clock to doctor the proceedings in which she used to sentence Inibehe after condemnation from right and left.

“Different people have exposed her, even lawyers present in court faulted her decision. The NBA leadership also said that her judgement did not follow due process,” a judicial worker had told SaharaReporters.

“The Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, the Honourable Justice Ekaette Fabian-Obot furnished Inibehe Effiong with the Certified True Copy of the proceedings of High Court No 1, Uyo Judicial Division Akwa Ibom State today (17/8/2022).

“The certified true copy of the record of proceedings was made available 21 days after the conviction of Inibehe Effiong for contempt of court contrary to Sections 36(7) and 294(1) of the Constitution which stipulates that the parties to a cause or matter be furnished with duly authenticated copies of the decision of a trial court within seven days of the delivery thereof.

“The Notice of Appeal against the conviction and sentence of one-month imprisonment imposed on Inibehe Effiong will be filed on Thursday, August 18, 2022.”

Catch-up

Inibehe Effion said in the tweet that he was appearing in court as the defense counsel for another lawyer – Leo Ekpenyong, in a libel suit brought against him by Udom Emmanuel, the governor of Akwa Ibom State.

According to the tweet, the judge who gave this order for his imprisonment for one month is the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Ekaette Obot.

Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa Reacts

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa has demanded an investigation into claims that prison guards in Akwa Ibom tortured the human rights attorney, Inibehe Effiong.

Reacting through a statement, Adegboruwa said:

“On July 26, 2022, the whole nation was shocked with the news of the reported conviction of lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Inibehe Effiong, by the Honourable Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State for alleged contempt of court. He was subsequently transferred to the Correctional Centre in Ikot-Ekpene, where he was remanded. This happened at the time of the annual long vacation of courts all over Nigeria, which has affected the process of securing immediate respite for him, legally.”

“For all who have followed the activities of Mr. Inibehe Effiong, he has been at the forefront of the campaign for transparency and good governance in Akwa Ibom, his home State and he has been a constant opponent of corruption and corrupt practices especially by officers of the government of Akwa Ibom State.

“The court case he took up is an offshoot of the spirited efforts of Mr. Inibehe Effiong to rid Akwa Ibom State of all forms of impunity and dictatorship. He accepted to defend a libel suit filed by the Governor of the State against a blogger in respect of certain allegations of corruption in relation to election cases.”

“I have waited to be able to have access to the record of proceedings of the Akwa Ibom State High Court of July 27, 2022, when Mr. Inibehe Effiong was convicted in order to have the opportunity of a first hand advantage of the official narration of the events of that day, but this has not been forthcoming. I am personally worried that the lawful professional assignment of prosecution or defence of any cause on behalf of the client is leading to the conviction of a legal practitioner, especially in the circumstances of what has so far been reported.”

“Although I am an advocate of mutual cooperation between the Bar and the Bench resulting from due deference to all judicial officers, the fact that the record of proceedings of such a short hearing cannot be made public up till now would seem to lend credence to the allegations of bias and high handedness on the part of the Honoruable Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, for which we all expect the relevant authorities having jurisdiction over My Lord to intervene.”

“The conduct of the officers of the Uyo Correctional Centre who were reported to have forcefully shaved off Mr. Effiong’s beards whilst also parading him before other inmates is totally unacceptable. Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled, under the Constitution, to freedom from all forms of inhuman and degrading treatment, freedom from torture and acts of dehumanization. I call on the relevant authorities to investigate this and bring the culprits to book.”

Femi Falana SAN Reacts

Similarly, another rights advocate and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana also said: “To prevent Effiong from appealing against the conviction and sentence imposed on him, the chief judge has refused to furnish him with a certified true copy of her judgment in contravention of Section 36(7) of the constitution which prescribes that every convict is entitled to a copy of the judgment of the court that tried and convicted him,” Falana stated.

“At the Uyo Correctional Centre, Effiong was forced to sit on the bare floor while his head was shaved together with his beard. He was thereafter subjected to more horrendous humiliation and paraded before all prison inmates.”

“Apart from challenging the egregious infringement of the fundamental right of Inibehe to the dignity of his person and fair hearing we shall press for the prosecution of the officials who inflicted torture on him contrary to the provision of section 2 of the Anti Torture Act of 2017. The penalty for the offence of inflicting torture on any person in Nigeria is 25 years imprisonment without any option of fine,” the senior advocate added.