Inibehe Effiong Released From Akwa Ibom Prison After One Month
- Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong has been released from the Uyo Correctional Centre after a month in the facility
- The lawyer's arrest had sparked outrage across the country, especially in the human rights community
- Speaking after his release, the respected legal practitioner said he considers it an honour to be locked up for speaking the truth
Uyo - Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong has been released from Uyo prison after spending 30 days for alleged contempt of court.
The Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom state, Ekaette Obot, on Wednesday, July 27, sentenced Effiong to prison after the lawyer objected to the presence of two armed police operatives in the courtroom.
Source: Twitter
The lawyer stepped out of the prison at around 8 a.m. to a waiting crowd of supporters around the prison premises.
Premium Times quoted him as saying:
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“I consider it an honour for me to be incarcerated for the truth. This voice, till no end, is now louder.”
On Twitter, he wrote:
“I am back, stronger and more determined to confront the forces of oppression and to continue to speak nothing but the hard truth to the faces of the oppressors of our people. I feel sorry for those who thought they can break my spirit by incarcerating me.”
Omoyele Sowore reacts to Inibehe Effiong's release
Reacting to Effiong's release, the presidential candidate of African Action Congress and media entrepreneur, Omoyele Sowore, noted that despite his experiences, the legal practitioner remains defiant.
“Inibehe Effiong has been released from unjust imprisonment in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state. The popular human rights attorney is as defiant as ever. He left prison with 17 inmates languishing in prison. He remains defiant as ever!”
How Effiong was sent to prison
Legit.ng had earlier reported that Effiong was on Wednesday, July 27, sentenced to the Uyo Correctional Centre.
The verdict was read by Justice Obot during a hearing in which Effiong was defending a client in a libel suit filed by Governor Udom Emmanuel.
Effiong was slammed with the ruling after he objected to Justice Obot's decision in sending out of the courtroom a journalist who came to cover the hearing.
Former CJN Muhammad Tanko, 14 other Supreme Court justices to be probed
Meanwhile, shortly before the resignation of the former chief justice of Nigeria, Muhammad Tanko, there were allegations of corruption levelled against his person by some Supreme Court justices.
In a move to ensure that all issues of corrupt allegations in the judiciary are cleared, lawmakers of the Nigerian Senate have invited the affected justices.
The justices were invited to the Senate for probe by the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters over allegations of corruption against him.
Source: Legit.ng
