Supporters of Hon. Bright Ngene, the Labor Party (LP) lawmaker elected for Enugu South Urban Constituency, staged a protest on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual Conference in Enugu.
The protesters carried placards with inscriptions such as “NBA save your member from political imprisonment”, “Injustice to one lawyer is injustice to all”, and “Say no to miscarriage of justice”. They called on the NBA to intervene and secure Ngene’s release from the Enugu Correctional Centre.
Ngene, a lawyer and politician, was sentenced to seven years in prison on July 28, 2024 by a magistrate court over a communal dispute. Despite being in custody, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him winner of the rerun election for the constituency seat in the Enugu State House of Assembly.
The rerun was conducted after the court nullified his initial victory in the March 2023 polls.
Speaking during the protest, one of the supporters, Kachukwu Benedict, described Ngene’s imprisonment as “unjust and political.”
“Honorable Bright Emeka Ngene was unjustly jailed on baseless charges. Judicial procedures were not followed, and in less than two weeks, he was convicted. We are here to tell the world what has been happening in Enugu for the past year,” Benedict said.
The protesters insisted that Ngene’s continued incarceration amounts to a miscarriage of justice and urged the legal community to rise in his defense.
