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From Joe Effiong, Uyo
The jailed human rights lawyer, Mr Inibehe Effiong, has explained that he never insulted the Akwa Ibom State High Court or the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Ekaette Obot to warrant her sending him to one-month imprisonment.
Justice Obot had sentenced Effiong to one calendar month jail term for alleged contempt of court when he appeared for one Leo Ekpenyong in a defamation case instituted by Gov Udom Emmanuel against Ekpenyong.
But on regaining his freedom on Friday, Effiong said: “I say it as a child of God that I never at any time pointed my hand at the Honourable Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom. I never at any time banged the table. I never at any time shouted at the court. These accusations only came to me while I was in incarceration. The Honourable Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom whose office I respect knows in her conscience that I never acted in any insolent manner. I never disrespected the court.
“All I did on the 27th of July when I announced my appearance along with my colleague Augustine Asuquo to defend my client Leo Ekpenyong was simply to raise two fundamental observations that I feel that every judicial officer with profound respect and that every legal practitioner in this country should pay attention to. When I arrived the court, My Lord announced clearly that His Lordship is coming in with anger and that the court would not tolerate any nonsense from anybody. And because we knew the antecedence of this matter, we have always accorded the court absolute respect.
