Inibehe Effiong challenges judge to release CCTV footage of court proceedings

Human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong has challenged Akwa Ibom State Chief Justice Ekaette Obot to release CCTV footage of what happened at the court on the day he was sentenced to prison for alleged contempt of court.

The judge, Ms. Obot, sentenced Mr. Effiong to one month in prison on July 27 after the lawyer objected to the presence of two armed police officers in the courtroom.

Judge Obot, in the record she released recently, claimed the young lawyer pointed at her and also banged on a table during a defamation trial hearing , in which Mr. Effiong was the defendant's attorney.

Akwa Ibom State Governor Udom Emmanuel is the plaintiff in the lawsuit.

But Mr. Effiong denied Judge Obot's request.

"I take this opportunity to publicly urge and appeal to His Grace the Honorable Chief Justice of Akwa Ibom State, His Grace the Honorable Justice Ekaette Fabian Obot to release the CCTV camera of this day.

"Because I have been told, I am aware to the best of my knowledge that there is CCTV inside this courtroom, the court of His Highness the Chief Justice. That all Nigerian lawyers see when Inibehe pointed the finger at the Honorable Chief Justice They also see when Inibehe knocked on the table,” Mr Effiong told reporters on Friday immediately after his release from Uyo prison. .

"Even if I were the most insolent lawyer in Nigeria, you don't have to scandalize my name and attribute to me conduct that never happened in court just to justify what is clearly unjustifiable," the attorney said.

Minutes before Judge Obot sentenced Mr Effiong to jail, she ordered PREMIUM TIMES reporter Savior Imukudo out of court for recording the proceedings 'without court permission' .

The journalist was arrested and his phone confiscated by a police officer on the orders of Judge Obot. He was later released and his phone returned to him after the judge forced him to delete the recording.

Mr. Effiong recounted what happened in court that day.

“I was about to start my cross-examination and I turned around, again I saw two armed policemen with AK47s, one to my right, one to my left. hostility and I said Monseigneur, I also observed the presence of two armed policemen in court.

"I said, Monsignor, although I am not usually intimidated by their presence but by their presence here with weapons, sitting behind me, they have created hostility in the yard, which made me uncomfortable and difficult for me. that I continue the procedure and I begged the court to excuse them. My Lord did not accept our request.

"Once again, perhaps it was my offence. I did not give up because I have a duty as a lawyer to defend the course of justice.

"I said, Monsignor, respectfully, I do so now as a formal request, in which case Your Lordship should render a decision. I said, however, if Your Lordship reverses my decision, I would be bound by the court order and I would proceed with my cross-examination.

“At that time, My Lord took a pen, My Lord began to write. You know, as a lawyer, when you address the court and the court writes, you are delighted that the court take note of what you say. I thought My Lord was writing down what I was saying, not knowing that this was my order to commit to prison.

"The next thing I heard was, 'You get out of the bar.'

"I walked out of the bar. I didn't fight. And then Monseigneur said, undress and I also have to say again that I didn't undress right away. I have to place the file as is because I can't undress as a lawyer in court if I don't know the reason why I should undress. It's like withdrawing my Call-to-Bar certificate. I said, Monsignor, if I undress, I can no longer address the court as a lawyer. Monsignor said "you are no longer a lawyer, I no longer recognize you because I am sending you to prison". p>

"I did not believe it. The next thing My Lord did was to read what My Lord had already written: 'You are hereby sentenced to one month imprisonment, to be remanded in custody at Correction center until you purge yourself...