Security operatives have arrested a lawyer for exposing a governor who allegedly gave tribunal chairman, $1.5m bribe.
Governor Udom Emmanuel
Policemen have arrested an Abuja-based lawyer, Leo Ekpenyong, for $1.5m bribery allegations he made against the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel, and some senior judicial officers.
According to Punch, Ekpenyong was picked up in Abuja and flown to Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, where he would be arraigned in an Uyo Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, the state Commissioner for Justice, Uwemedimo Nwoko, said.
He said, “The police trailed him to Abuja where he was arrested and brought to Akwa Ibom to face the charges against him.”
It was gathered that the state government had instituted a legal action against Ekpenyong after he alleged that Emmanuel gave $1.5m bribe to the state election petitions tribunal Chairman, Justice W.O. Akanbi, to secure justice for the Peoples Democratic Party in the petition filed by Godswill Akpabio challenging the election of Chris Ekpenyong.
The state government had given him seven days to substantiate the claim and publish same in three reputable national newspapers or risk a legal action.
He said that Leo Ekpenyong had taken his trade of blackmail across the red line.