Court releases popular blogger after two days in custody

Ukpong was said to have published a defamatory reports against the former governor of the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio.

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He was granted bail in the sum of N10 million and two sureties in like sum showing evidence of ownership of property within the jurisdiction of the court, after the Chief Magistrate, Effiong Effiong, listened to the charge and the arguments from the prosecution and the defence counsels.

The case was adjourned to December 21 for trial.

Lawyers to the blogger said his arrest was a case of mistaken identity.

“Instead of letting him go with apologies, the police detained him while a fresh petition was quickly authored against him,”

Ewa Okpo Edmund, one of the lawyers to the blogger, said.

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Mr Edmund said the blogger was arraigned after much pressure was exerted on the police by his lawyers and the press community in Akwa Ibom.

“I cannot be intimidated or blackmailed. Whatever a man sows, that shall he reap,”

Mr Ukpong wrote on Facebook, shortly after regaining his freedom.

The blogger was represented in court by Abasiodiong Ekpenyong, Toyo Jimmy, Ekanem Morgan, Ewa Okpo Edmund, and Ini Emembong, who is a lawyer, as well as the spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom.

 

www.sojworld.com (c) December 7, 2018