The lawyer of recently released journalist, Kufre Carter, has lambasted the Civil Liberty Organisation for claiming it influenced the release of the journalist from the hands of the police.
After one month in the custody of Nigeria’s secret police, State Security Services (SSS) a journalist, who was arrested for defaming the Akwa Ibom State Health Commissioner, Dominic Ukpong, was released on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.
Carter’s lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, confirmed that the journalist has been freed.
“I can confirm to you that he has been released at the instance and on the instigation of the Akwa Ibom State Government, after the Director-general of the SSS, Alhaji Yusuf Bichi, ordered the SSS Command in Akwa Ibom State to comply with the valid and subsisting order of the court and release our client,” he said.
Effiong read the riot act to the state government and assured that there was no way the rule of law could have been sacrificed.
“The Akwa Ibom State Government knew, or ought to have known, that we do not fight on our knees. They knew that with us, the rule of law was not going to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency.”
He debunked news in some quarters that the Nigeria Union of Journalists and the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) influenced the release of the journalist.
“We want to state specifically that, neither the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akwa Ibom or the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) had any hand in our client’s release. Rather, it was the NUJ leadership that informed that informed the Attorney-general that they had extracted an apology for the governor from our client.
“Please, note that Kufre was not released to the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO). The CLO has no hand in the release of our client.
Rather, he thanked a number of other civil society organisations.
“We wish to express our profound appreciation to spirited Nigerians, the courageous members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm (the media), Amnesty International, the International Press Centre (SERAP), Peoples Alternative Fronts (PAF) and other members of the civil society and the human rights community in Nigeria for their solidarity in resisting the tyrants of Akwa Ibom State.
“It is a sad commentary that CLO will offer itself as a tool in the hands of the State Government to paint the impression that our client was released to the CLO. This is nothing but a face-saving falsehood meant to deceive members of the public,” Effiong stated.
Kufre’s freedom is a reminder to us that with perseverance, devotion to justice and the rule of law, the leprous fingers of tyrants will always be broken by the strong hand of the law.
We wish to put the Akwa Ibom State Government and other necessary parties on notice that this is not the end of this matter.
