A group, the Akwa Ibom Integrity Alliance, has bemoaned what it considered as the negative portrayal of the state, following the July 27 incarceration of Lagos-based activist-lawyer Inibehe Effiong by the Uyo High Court.
It urged interested parties and the public to stop vilifying the state and its judiciary, saying it should rather allow the law to take its course.
Effiong is serving one-month jail sentence at an Ikot Ekpene Correctional Centre following his conviction for alleged contempt in facie curiae by the Chief Judge of Akwa State, Justice Ekaette Obot.
His incarceration has been trending in the mainstream and social media, with lawyers and rights groups demanding his release, while some urged the chief judge to ensure the lawyer is freed.
Effiong has also challenged the judgment through his team of lawyers led by Femi Falana and members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
But in a statement by its Chairman, Stephen Abia, the body claimed that social media comments on the incident by lawyers were unethical and based on misrepresentations.
He said: “Against Rule 33 of the Rules of Professional Conduct of Legal Practitioners, which forbids the publication of matters that are pending in court, as you would have observed, the media is embarrassingly awash with copies of court processes expressly indicating a legal duel instituted by a group of lawyers led by Falana, SAN, against the person of Honourable Justice Ekaette Fabian Obot, Chief Judge of Akwa Ibom State.
“The Akwa Ibom Integrity Alliance is grieved by the continuous projection of Akwa Ibom State and the state judiciary in negative lights by persons who are deliberately out to drag the reputation of the people of Akwa Ibom State in the mud.