Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who was jailed for contempt by the Chief Decide of Akwa Ibom State, Justice Ekaette Obot, in controversial circumstances on July 27, regained his freedom on Friday. He speaks with GODFREY GEORGE about his one-month jail expertise
Would you prefer to recount what your first day was like in detention within the Ikot Ekpene Custodial Facility in Akwa Ibom state?
By the point I arrived, I used to be not perturbed by my sentence in any means. They first took me to the Uyo Correctional Facility however they didn’t admit me. They referred me to Ikot Ekpene, and I used to be presupposed to be there for 2 weeks. After I bought to Ikot-Ekpene, I used to be admitted and instantly confronted with the fact of the abominable neglect of the correctional centre within the nation. Regardless that the Ikot Ekpene Prisons constructing is comparatively new, because it was not too long ago renovated by former Governor Godswill Akpabio, life there’s nonetheless very horrible.
Most Nigerians could not understand how dangerous the situation is till they expertise it. I needed to take away my sneakers after I was admitted. They took my properties and took account of them. Then, I needed to be proven the cell the place I used to be going to spend two weeks. The custodial centre in Ikot-Ekpene is very and disgustingly congested. Inmates stay mainly like animals. There are individuals who don’t actually have a area to lie. They sit with their legs tied and others sit near them. That’s the situation that a few of them have needed to stay for years since their sentence. I used to be so enraged by what seemed like an try to copy the Nazi focus. However then, I used to be advised there was what they referred to as the ‘particular cell’, some sort of ‘privileged cell’ on the Ikot Ekpene Custodial Centre. They advised me that I’d both alter to the very dehumanising situation I discover myself within the common cell or I needed to pay for an area within the so-called particular cell.
How a lot did it value?
The officers mentioned it will value me N50, 000. I knew I had simply two weeks to remain, however I needed to pay that cash so I might get an area. There have been three of us within the room. There was no mattress; there was only a small mattress. I adjusted. As I mentioned, I had at all times mentally ready for incarceration. So, we needed to sleep on the ground. There was no internet for me to defend myself from mosquitoes. I needed to share the bathroom with different individuals. It wasn’t palatable. However that’s what individuals even take into account to be the most effective within the nation. I don’t assume that’s even match for any inmate on this nation to be stored.
How did you feed?
I by no means for in the future ate what they served as meals. For me, these meals weren’t suitable for eating. Saying it was dangerous is making gentle of the scenario. Even saying it was horrible is an understatement. What the inmates there eat just isn’t even one thing befitting for canines to eat, and I say that with an open thoughts. Every single day, as a result of my detention turned like a kind of pilgrimage on the custodial centre, individuals would troop in from all components of the nation to see me. Every single day, I had a retinue of tourists who I needed to spend a while with. They’d given some sort of particular directions or guidelines to the warders, which is a means of telling them that I used to be ‘a high-profile inmate whose life needed to be monitored’. I couldn’t make calls like the opposite inmates. I used to be monitored tooth and nail. I didn’t have an issue with that. I cooperated with the authorities and stored to all the principles. No matter they did was them making an attempt to make me to not really feel the fact of what was taking place. When the date of my switch got here, August 10, 2022, that was the day that they determined to torture me.
How do you imply?
So, that morning, I ready myself for the switch. I had given my garments to the dry cleaner, who’s an inmate, and had ready myself. I had washed my issues. All I wanted was the time so I might pack my issues and start to clean up. However some man got here that morning and advised me to organize as a result of I used to be going to court docket. I believed there was a improvement in my case that I used to be not conscious of. I disputed it however he insisted. I needed to observe the inmate who labored with the data to see what was taking place. They later apologised, saying it was not really a court docket look however a switch to Uyo. I insisted on chatting with the Assistant Comptroller of Customs of that facility. When he got here, he behaved in a different way. He was belligerent. He shouted at me, asking why I used to be not dressed for the switch. He turned very hostile. I couldn’t say something. I merely stood up and went inside and my cellmates had to assist me begin packing. Since individuals introduced lots of issues for me, it was troublesome for me to start out packing. That took some time as a result of I wasn’t given enough discover. I used to be about to clean up when some officer got here and advised me that I used to be losing time. I advised him that I needed to clean up first since I used to be not operating. The Assistant Comptroller of Corrections got here in with a full squad of his males and so they began shouting at me. I bought actually upset and I advised them that I used to be not a prison. In the event that they wished to switch me, I needs to be given some decency, a while to rearrange myself.
The issue with the correctional centre is that they don’t consider that inmates have rights. For them, you might be at their mercy. So, whenever you wish to communicate in a fashion that’s suggestive that they’re treating you unfairly, they discover that extraordinarily offensive. At that time, it not mattered to them whoever I used to be exterior there. The person later went out and ordered some loopy dude who got here in and handcuffed me. One different heavily-built officer grabbed me by the neck, and I might barely breathe. A sure Enobong Gideon Eyoren was the officer who led the torture. He was a two-star officer. The younger man took it very personally. He acted so very maliciously. He mentioned all kinds of issues after which he took me exterior the van regardless that there was an area to place me inside. It was drizzling. They didn’t accord me that courtesy for me to take a seat contained in the van. The opposite inmate, who they had been taking to satisfy up the court docket time, Moses Armstrong, was contained in the van, however they lifted me up and flung me contained in the van and chained me to the again of the van with handcuffs and drove me like a canine to Uyo. The torture didn’t finish there. After I bought to Uyo, this identical officer began pushing and battering me. I stored questioning what was happening. After I bought in, he ordered me to take a seat on the ground. They don’t perceive that I’ve rights as a citizen and needs to be revered and handled with decency.
Eyoren turned very violent and threatened to complete me if I resisted. Think about if I put up a bodily resistance! That very same younger man, I later bought to grasp, had been implicated in lots of crimes. That’s the character that was an officer with the correctional service. I used to be not stunned that he was the one who was assigned to oversee my torture.
Is it true that they shaved your hair and beard?
In fact, they did. They forcefully shaved my hair and beard regardless of my objections. It was a continuation of what began in Ikot-Ekpene. All through my keep in Ikot-Ekpene, I had my beards with me. Inmates hold beards. It’s even very foolish to say that is commonplace apply. The inmates within the correctional service look after themselves. No one pays for something for them, so I knew it (hair shaving) was malicious. Uduak Frank Akpan (Iniobong Umoren’s killer), who was convicted a day earlier than I used to be sentenced, had his beard the way in which he wished to maintain it. This was somebody who was convicted of homicide. My shaving was malicious and deliberate. They wished to do one thing that might harm me. They didn’t simply shave me, they shaved me fully. If you happen to see my image, you will note how I look so completely different. I used to be virtually shaved bald. They dehumanised me. When the data bought out, they began making an attempt to be apologetic inside whereas denying the gravity of the motion and never punishing the offender.
What was the expertise for you mentally?
I had a sound sleep. I used to be not bothered. I knew what the Honourable Chief Decide did was a miscarriage of justice. So, I used to be not bothered about my incarceration. Every single day after I awoke, I went to the chapel, learn my Bible and a duplicate of Nelson Mandela’s Lengthy Stroll to Freedom, which I completed earlier than my incarceration was over. I interacted with inmates who had wants for counseling. I helped those that wanted monetary assist. Within the final interval of my keep in Uyo, I supplied myself as much as the inmates as a lot as I might.
Did any of the inmates recognise you?
Nearly everybody there knew me. There was barely anyone who didn’t know who I used to be.
The Lawyer Basic of Akwa Ibom State, Uko Udom (SAN), justified your imprisonment, saying the decide had all the facility to determine what was contemptuous in a court docket. How did you obtain that?
Anyone who’s defending my incarceration, with due respect to the particular person, is both talking out of ignorance or out of non-public vendetta or gross disregard for the reality. Nothing justifies my incarceration. I didn’t commit any contempt of court docket. There was nothing in my conduct that was contemptuous both in speech or in motion. I handled the discovered Chief Decide with respect, and people claims that I banged the tables and raised my voice are mere fabrications. They didn’t occur. I’ll say this earlier than any decide and any court docket on this nation. They didn’t witness what transpired in court docket. I used to be addressing the court docket on the propriety of inviting armed males into the courtroom, and My Lord determined to commit me to jail for that. That was all that occurred. Allow us to even assume that I carried out myself badly, shouldn’t I be accorded truthful listening to? Are you able to convict somebody for contempt with out a trial? You can’t have a trial with out a cost. There was no cost that was ready towards me. No cost was learn to me. I used to be not afforded a chance to take a plea and even say something. I wasn’t requested to enter a dock. So, what precisely are they defending?
Do you propose to take authorized actions about this case?
There are a collection of authorized actions that had been taken whereas I used to be in jail. Others will probably be vigorously pursued now that I’ve been launched, notably my enchantment towards the sentence. No matter authorized steps that must be taken will probably be taken. I cannot shrink back from this duty. I’m very grateful to the Nigerian Bar Affiliation led by Mr Olumide Akpata and the First Vice President who came visiting me. They’ve been very supportive, and for that I’m eternally grateful.