HOW AKPABIO AND NTEKIM PERVERTED JUSTICE IN AKWA IBOM STATE
"I know that apart from the Chief Judges, the chief registrars and other personnel of the court here, I can confirm, I've overtime observed that they are people who have integrity. That is what any judiciary needs. You need integrity" - Prof. Chukwuemerie
Indeed the entire nation agrees with the observations that integrity is needed in the judiciary system for justice to survive, for fairness to strive, for wrongs to be righted, and for democracy to be practiced!
However with men like Ekpenyong Ntekim, the newly appointed Attorney General of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, the judiciary cannot, and will not earn such high marks. For insights, one needs to review the immediate past tenure of Mr. Ntekim as the State's highest ranking judicial officer not only for law enforcement but also for protecting the rights and liberties of the citizens through his portfolio. A glance back or count taken of the number of UNSOLVED murders, kidnappings, muggings, extra-judicial executions and wrongful incarcerations in Akwa Ibom State, tell the story better than anyone can narrate. And for as long as Mr. Godswill Obot Akpabio remains governor, the situation will not improve. Instead, it will grow worse;
as these men continue in their attempts to hide their affiliations with cultist hoodlums, with criminals, and with their personal corruption and law breaking.
With officials of government and law enforcement willing to be bribed, willing to serve Godswill Obot Akpabio's lies, greed and criminal tendencies, for money or out of fear; justice has long been denied to victims of murders, kidnappings, intimidation, victimization and wrongful incarcerations borne out of falsehood. Justice will continue to be denied to innocent victims of murders kidnappings and wrongful incarcerations until Mr. Godswill Obot Akpabio leaves office,; and is docked, tried and convicted for his negligence of crime, or committal. One case of injustice perpetrated during the first tenure of Mr. Ekpenyong Ntekim as Attorney General had been noted in this forum; - the Fabian Ekpenyong case; of trumped-up charges and wrongful incarceration for many months. It was not the only one. Many suspected criminals were also let loose while Mr. Ntekim sat astern the judiciary as Attorney General. His immediate past predecessor, now Ambassador, Mr. Assam E. Assam did not do any better. These men have sat upon injustices, unfairness, unsolved murders and kidnappings. It is fair to ask - who are they protecting? OR are they plain incompetent?
Let it be noted with serious concerns and apprehension that Ekpenyong Ntekim is once again the Attorney General for Akwa Ibom State. Let it be noted with serious concern and apprehension that Mr.
Ntekim has a more-than-eager willingness to serve Godswill Obot Akpabio's interests, more than he is willing to serve the course of justice for which he was trained and for which he took an oath. He has no such integrity at getting to the truth, telling it, and convicting or absolving because of truth. The Fabian Ekpenyong case and the case of letting go some suspected criminals without trial, or deliberately bungled trials, abound. Concerns are heightened because of Mr.
Ntekim's past record as Attorney General. Let it be noted that during Mr. Ntekim's first tenure of serving Godswill Obot Akpabio, many murders remained unsolved and still remain unsolved; let it be noted that many were incarcerated without trial - Fabian Ekpenyong, the only surviving brother of Mr. Emmanuel Ekpenyong and Mathias Ekpenyong, brutally murdered on the same day; became a witness-turned-suspected-murderer under Mr. Ntekim's and Godswill Obot Akpabio's tenures; only because Fabian Ekpenyong refused to toe the state's line in implicating someone accused by the State as the murderer of Mr. Ekpenyong's brothers; while those actually seen at the scene of the crime and suspected to have murdered Mr. Emmanuel and Matthias Ekpenyong were allowed by the State to escape trial, in an open court.
Let it be noted that there are many qualified lawyers in Akwa Ibom State who could be appointed Attorney General, therefore there must be a certain affinity or attraction or compelling reason for Mr. Akpabio to repeat the candidacy of Mr. Ntekim in the same position for which Mr. Ekpenyong Ntekim had failed miserably to arrest the spiraling murders, kidnappings, and general insecurity in our state. Not that it matters who Mr. Akpabio appoints to any post; for as we all know, though not many will openly accept, in and out of Akwa Ibom State, for reasons of fear or greed; when the head is rotten, the rest of the body cannot do any better. Godswill Obot Akpabio is a rotten leader - corrupt, greedy, egoistic, lying, overbearing, nepostic and despotic.
His cultist filled, cultist infiltrated and cultist managed administration will never do better as far as delivering justice, truth, and fairness to the citizens are concerned. Without these attributes, which assure security and freedom, the cultist administration can sing "Akwa Ibom ade Ok" or "uncommon transformation" as long as it wants; or hire the highest number of people in the world to sing whatever carols it can pay for; or lie as many times as it has the opportunity, about the amount of rust-painted development it brags about; things will continue to deteriorate!!
However again, let it be noted that Mr. Ntekim did not serve the course of justice in his first tenure. Let it be noted that the Attorney General then, acted to serve the interests of the Governor instead of the interests of justice and of the State. It will not be any different this time, with his transfer from the transport to justice ministry as Attorney General. Once again let me re-iterate that nothing good can come from any of the present yes-sir corrupt men and women hired by Mr. Akpabio, whatever their portfolios maybe.
They are all indebted to Mr. Akpabio's lies and criminality. They are all parties to the formation of the terrorist organizations AKPF, ADV and others. They are all parties to the insecurity which has plagued the State since Mr. Akpabio took over as governor. They are all parties to the corruption and insidiousness practiced by their cultist patrons and foot-soldiers.
I am singling out Mr. Ntekim because of the allegation "that the new Attorney General, Barr. Ekpenyong Ntekim wants to personally prosecute the matter". This case, "the Threat to Akpabio's Life", preferred against Chief Imeh Umanah must be weighed against lies perpetrated by Godswill Obot Akpabio; against the context that Chief Umanah openly revealed the accusations levelled against Mr. Akpabio by a high ranking law enforcement Officer sent to the State of Akwa Ibom. We were told then that the Law Enforcement official told Mr. Godswill Obot Akpabio that he, the governor, is responsible for the insecurity in the State. These then may explain Mr. Ekpenyong Ntekim's personal interest in prosecuting this case personally. Whatever his intentions may be in seeking to prosecute this case personally, it will serve Mr.
Ntekim's personal interests to know that patriots and justice seekers will watch his performance over this case very very carefully. The reason being that Mr. Imeh Umanah may be required to testify, and to name the high ranking official, in any later case/s brought against Mr. Godswill Obot Akpabio over the insecurity and the looting in Akwa Ibom State. Therefore nothing untoward or unjust must be done legally or otherwise by Ekpenyong Ntekim or by Godswill Obot Akpabio or by any of their foot-soldiers to Chief Imeh Umanah. Should it become neccessary to sue Mr. Godswill Obot Akpabio, later, Mr. Ntekim and all who have helped Mr. Akpabio rape the State must know that they too will testify to their deeds, as well.
Mr. Ekpenyong Ntekim did not act in his first tenure to curb extrajudiciary killings nor did he bring the perpetrators to trial and to justice. Early in his second coming he has been welcomed by the extra-judicial killings of three brothers in Ini Local Government Area
a few weeks ago. We must therefore brace ourselves for what may come to be a repeat performance, because Mr. Ntekim is more interested in serving the causes of Godswill Obot Akpabio than in serving the course of justice. The point therefore is for every citizen, patriotic to state and nation, to compile evidences of Mr. Ntekim's judicial behavior; of murders, kidnappings, theft and general insecurity; and of all persons now perverting the course of justice in our nation. The Augusto Pinochet case, the recent conviction of Mr. Taylor by the International court, and the case of James Ibori, have given patriotic and honest Nigerians cause for hope that not only hoodlums who kill, steal and cause insecurity can be prosecutted successfully, but that those who allow them to harm innocent citizens and perpetually curb their rights will be prosecutted. At this stage of our State's corruption, unsolved murders and kidnappings, persecution of the critics of an insidious government, and the deliberate rail-roading and wrongful incaceration of innocent citizens, many are determined to remove, legally, all obstacles to justice and to real democracy, for Nigerian citizens. We await the opportunity!!
OduduAbasi Nicolas Edet
DFW