After 20 days being detained in a Correctional Centre, Inibehe Effiong, the jailed human rights lawyer, has sued the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Ekaette Obot, over the her refusal to furnish him with his conviction order and copies of court proceedings.
Irked by the judge inability to hearken to repeated applications, the lawyer, on Monday, August 17, filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Uyo, praying the court to direct Justice Obot to furnish him with a copy of the July 27 judgement.
Effiong also prayed the court to declare as illegal and unconstitutional, the judge’s refusal to release the conviction order, as it violates Section 36 (7) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
Read also
- Groups Protest and Demand Unconditional Release of Inibehe Effiong
- Chief Judge Sentences Lawyer to Prison- Effiong alleges
- Akpabio, Ekpenyong’s Election: Tribunal Justices Chant Different Songs
In a court document, counsel to the plaintiff, Femi Falana, said Mr Effiong is entitled to a copy of the judgment within seven days of the conclusion of the case.
Mr Effiong was thrown into prison on July 27 by Justice Obot, for alleged contempt of court.
He served the first two weeks of his 30 days sentence at the Ikot Ekpene Custodial Center of the Nigeria Correctional Service.
He was later transferred to Uyo Custodial Centre to serve the remaining days.
Straightnews gathered that Mr Effiong was reportedly abused by prison officials who scraped his hair and beard, though the state Correctional Centre refuted the story and declared it as false.
The lawyer’s imprisonment on the order of Justice Obot has attracted condemnations across the country.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) have faulted the procedure adopted by Justice Obot, in jailing the lawyer.
The immediate past NBA president, Olumide Akpata, had accused the judge of denying Mr Effiong fair hearing before committing him to prison.
Justice Obot had, on July 27, sent Mr Effiong to prison after the lawyer objected to the presence of two armed police officers in court in addition to asking her recuse herself in the case.
Though the lawyer was at Justice Obot’s court to defend his client in the defamation case, the judge has been accused by some human rights lawyers of not giving the lawyer fair hearing in the case adjudged as ‘contemptuous.’
The client, Leo Ekpenyong, another human rights lawyer, is the defendant in the suit filed by the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Udom Emmanuel.
