Inibehe Effiong | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Inibehe Effiong 21 December 1988 |
| Alma mater | University of Uyo |
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Inibehe Effiong (born 21 December 1988) is a Nigerian human rights lawyer, activist, social commentator, and litigation lawyer. [1] [2] [3] He is the legal adviser of the African Action Congress. [4]
Effiong was born in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, in 1988. He attended the Presbyterian Senior Science School and proceeded to the University of Uyo, where he obtained a Bachelor of Law degree and was call to bar in 2015. [5]
In August 2020, Effiong filed a charge against the National Broadcasting Commission for arbitrarily amending the Nigeria Broadcasting Code and increasing the fine for hate speech from NGN 500,000 to NGN 5,000,000. [6]
From 5 June 2021, to 13 January 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria banned Twitter, which restricted its operation in the country. Inibehe filed a suit at the federal high court against the Federal Government of Nigeria, former Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to obtain an order restraining the government from banning Twitter. [7]
In March 2023, Effiong criticised Nigeria's State Security Services for adopting the name Department of State Security Services and considered it illegal. [8]
On 27 July 2022, the Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State, Ekaette Obot, ordered Effiong to be remanded in prison for contempt. [9] While in a correctional facility, he claimed to have been subjected to torture by the prison official, [10] but the claim was refuted by the Nigerian Correctional Service. [11]
The imprisonment of Inibehe generated national controversies as human rights organizations, including Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and Amnesty International, Nigeria Labour Congress called for Inibehe's release. At least 26 civil society organisations calling for Inibehe's release submitted a petition to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. [12]
The Nigerian Bar Association threatened to file a petition with the National Judicial Council, and many notable Nigerian lawyers, including Senior Advocates of Nigeria such as Femi Falana and Kayode Ajulo, condemned Effiong's detention. Kayode Ajulo described Effiong’s imprisonment as "an abuse of judicial authority." [13]
Human rights lawyer and writer, Professor Chidi Odinkalu, described Effiong as “a courageous, vigorous, and brilliant advocate who is destined to become a phenomenon in Nigeria’s legal profession.” [14]
Akwa Ibom State is a state in the South-South geopolitical zone of Nigeria on the east by Cross River State for about 114 km mostly across Cross River, on the west by Rivers State for 52 km mostly across the Imo River and Abia State to the west and north for 151 km, and on the south by the Atlantic Ocean. The state takes its name from the Qua Iboe River which bisects the state before flowing into the Bight of Bonny. Akwa Ibom was split from Cross River State in 1987 with its capital as Uyo and 31other local government areas.
The University of Uyo is located in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The university was formerly known as the University of Cross River State, Uyo.
The Nigerian Law School is an educational institution set up by the Government of Nigeria in 1962 to provide a Nigerian legal education to foreign-trained lawyers, and to provide practical training for aspiring Legal Practitioners in Nigeria. Until the school was established, legal practitioners in Nigeria had received the requisite training in England and had been called to the English Bar.
Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio is a Nigerian lawyer and politician who is currently serving as the 15th president of the Nigerian Senate since 2023. He served as Senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District from 2015 to 2019 and since 2023. He also served as minister for Niger Delta Affairs from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as governor of Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2015.
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Bassey Albert Akpan CON is a Nigerian politician who has been a member of the Senate of Nigeria since June 2015. Previously, he was Commissioner of Finance in Akwa Ibom State from 2007 to 2014. He was first elected to the Senate in March 2015, to represent Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District and he won re-election for a second time in the February 2019 senatorial elections. He is a member of the ypp.ng.
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The Akwa Ibom Christmas Carols Festival is a large gathering of carol singers in Nigeria. A concert featuring 25,272 carol singers at the Akwa Ibom Stadium, Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, with Guinness World Records representatives in attendance, was officially certified as the largest such gathering in the world by Guinness World Records on December 13, 2014, against a former record of 15,674 carol singers which was achieved the previous year by a group called CENTI in Bogotá, Colombia.
Nse Bassey Ekpenyong was a Nigerian politician and member of the Nigerian National Assembly. Nse represented Oron, Mbo, Okobo, Urueoffong Oruku and Udung-Uko in the Federal House of Representatives.
Enefiok Essien(SAN) (born 29 January 1960 in Ibiono-Ibom, Akwa Ibom) is a Nigerian professor, lawyer and Was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo.
Anti-social Media Bill was introduced by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 5 November 2019 to criminalise the use of the social media in peddling false or malicious information. The original title of the bill is Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill 2019. It was sponsored by Senator Mohammed Sani Musa from the largely conservative northern Nigeria. After the bill passed second reading on the floor of the Nigeria Senate and its details were made public, information emerged on the social media accusing the sponsor of the bill of plagiarising a similar law in Singapore which is at the bottom of global ranking in the freedom of speech and of the press. But the senator denied that he plagiarised Singaporean law.
Omoyele 'Yele' Sowore, a presidential candidate in the Nigerian February 2019 elections was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on August 3, 2019, in Lagos, Nigeria, after he called for nation-wide protests as part of the #RevolutionNow movement he started.
The 2023 Akwa Ibom State gubernatorial election took place on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, concurrent with elections to the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly. The election—which was postponed from its original 11 March date — was held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections. Incumbent PDP Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third term. Former commissioner Umo Eno held the office for the PDP by a 34% margin over first runner-up and YPP nominee — Senator Bassey Albert Akpan.
Olukayode "Kayode" Abraham Ajulo, OON, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, an arbitrator, tutor, orator and civil rights activist. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. and the Diocesan Registrar of the Anglican Communion, Church of Nigeria.
The 2003 Nigerian Senate election in Akwa Ibom State was held on April 12, 2003, to elect members of the Nigerian Senate to represent Akwa Ibom State. Udoma Udo Udoma representing Akwa Ibom South, Effiong Dickson Bob representing Akwa Ibom North-East and Bob Ittak Ekarika representing Akwa Ibom North-West all won on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The 2023 Nigerian Senate elections in Akwa Ibom State will be held on 25 February 2023, to elect the 3 federal Senators from Akwa Ibom State, one from each of the state's three senatorial districts. The elections will coincide with the 2023 presidential election, as well as other elections to the Senate and elections to the House of Representatives; with state elections being held two weeks later. Primaries were held between 4 April and 9 June 2022.
Civil Liberties Organization is a Nigerian non-governmental organization focused on human rights and pro-democracy advocacy.