President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Mr. Olumide Akpata, has expressed concern over the detention of Inibehe Effiong, a lawyer and activist at a prison in Akwa Ibom State, on account of what transpired during proceedings in the court of the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot.
Justice Obot on Wednesday, sent Effiong to prison for one month over alleged rudeness, while appearing in court for a case of defamation between Governor Udom Emmanuel and a lawyer, Leo Ekpenyong.
Akpata in his facebook post on Thursday, said: “I received with great concern the news of the detention of one of our members, Inibehe Effiong, at a prison in Akwa Ibom State, on account of what transpired during proceedings in the court of the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State.
“Since receiving this news, I have been in touch with the Chairman of the NBA Uyo Branch, who has mobilised his team to look into and address this. This morning, I have also mandated the NBA 1st Vice President to visit Uyo immediately to join the ongoing efforts and ensure the release of Mr. Effiong.
“The NBA is, therefore, on top of this, and I am confident that Mr. Effiong will regain his freedom shortly.
“While not going into the merits of this particular matter yet, suffice it to say that the NBA is strongly opposed to, and will continue to resist all attempts to intimidate, threaten or harass our members while properly carrying out their professional responsibilities.
“The NBA will also not condone acts of indiscipline and insubordination against judicial officers from our members no matter the provocation. Ours is a rule-based profession and there is a procedure for airing grievances. The NBA 1st Vice President will also conduct fact finding investigation to determine what transpired and recommend next steps,” he added.
Justice Obot before ordering for the conviction warrant of Effiong, had lamented that she had ran out of patience with the excesses and unruly behaviour of the human rights Lawyer.
On his part, Effiong said on his ‘Facebook Live’ video monitored by our correspondent, before he was taken it custody, that he had earlier applied for the judge to recuse herself from the case to avoid possible bias.
According to him, the motion for recusal was not taken by the court, but surprisingly, the Chief Judge brought in some armed policemen into the court room and ordered him to be committed to prison on Wednesday.
Vanguard