The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called on the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot to urgently release a lawyer, Barr Inibehe Effiong, who was sentenced to one month imprisonment for contempt of court.
Barr Effiong is an activist defending Mr. Leo Ekpenyong, who made damning allegations against the Akwa Ibom state governor, Mr. Emmanuel Udom.
According to a statement by NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the congress said the ordeal of Mr. Effiong also appeared to portray him as an accessory to the crime allegedly committed by his client.
He added that this burden becomes heavier given that the order to remand Mr. Effiong in a correctional facility even while the case is still under trial came from the state Chief Judge who sits on the case.
The congress further alleged that the events surrounding this case make no pretence that Mr. Effiong is up and against the mighty and powerful.
The statement reads: “NLC has followed with keen interest the travails of Citizen Inibehe Effiong, a lawyer and activist in the Akwa Ibom State High Court in a case of defamation brought by the Akwa Ibom State Governor which is before Justice Ekaette Obot who happens to be the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State.
“At the last hearing on the matter, Justice Ekaette Obot sentenced Mr. Inibehe Effiong to one month imprisonment for contempt of court.
“While we recuse ourselves from interrogating the merit or otherwise of the contemptuous acts that led to the sentencing of Mr. Inibehe Effiong, we are guided by moral punction which instructs restraint in the exercise of the mighty powers reposed in the state and its institutions of authority.
“We are also guided by the fundamental principle of justice in our laws that presumes an accused innocent until proven guilty – Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat.”