An Akwa Ibom State High Court has ordered a human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, to be remanded in jail for one month over contempt and dishonourable behavior in court.
Ekaette Obot, chief of Akwa Ibom State ordered that Inibehe Effiong should use the correctional facility to purge himself of insolence and dishonorable acts that tend to bring the court to disrepute.
The Court sat in the case of libel by Governor Udom Emmanuel against Leo Ekpenyong which was on its last day for the prosecution to end its case with Effiong for the defendant
Effiong is said to have accused the Judge of being biased, despite repeated warnings from the State Chief Judge, asking her to recuse herself from handling the case.
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Speaking on the decision of the court, Counsel to Governor Emmanuel, Samuel Ikpo said he was shocked that a lawyer could utter such damning and profane utterances against a judge.
“I believe that when he comes out of the correctional facility, he will learn how to conduct himself before a court,” Ikpo said.
He wondered why Inibehe could disobey an order given to him by the judge, who asked him to take off his wig and step aside from the bar and he choose to remain obstinate.
“A lawyer should not allow himself to use one client to destroy his reputation before all the judges.
“I think Justice Obot has really been patient with him all these while, even as a lawyer, I could not tolerate the young lawyer’s conduct,” Ikpo said.
Reacting, Effiong on his Facebook page said, “have just been sent to Uyo prison by the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, for one month for defending Leo Ekpenyong in the libel suit filed by Governor Udom Emmanuel.”
