Agba Jalingo: Cross River Govt Takes Over Prosecution as Amnesty Demands Immediate Release

The Cross River State government on Friday took over the prosecution of Agba Jalingo, publisher of news portal, CrossRiverWatch.

The state’s attorney general, Tanko Ashang informed Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court that a letter to that effect had been filed and is in the records of the court and that the state was ready to go ahead with the matter.

Then, counsel to the defendant, Attah Ochinke moved a motion to vacate an order of the court which paused all proceedings until an electronic verbatim recorder is provided.

And, in his ruling, Justice Amobeda who held that the prayers of the defendant were vague, however granted the prayers of the defense and recused himself for the second time, referring the matter back to the administrative judge of the division, Justice Sule Shuaibu who had referred the matter back to him to entertain the motion filed by the defendant.

This means that Jalingo will be docked before Justice Shuaibu by the next court date with the matter likely to start all over where he will be made to take a fresh plea.

Earlier in the week, Human Rights group, Amnesty International has demanded for the unconditional release of Agba Jalingo and other prisoners of conscience held by agent of the state.

Amnesty International also said that the continuous detention of Agba Jalingo, a journalist who risks a death sentence if convicted for the four charges bordering on terrorism and cybercrime preferred against him was a “stain on the image of Nigeria.”

“While Agba Jalingo is detained for his critical opinions, both Cross River and Federal government are collaborating, through the manipulation of the criminal justice system to keep him behind bars,” said Amnesty International’s media manager, Sanusi Isa in a press conference Thursday in Calabar.

Mr. Isa flanked by his colleagues; Damian Ugwu and Ayoola Emmanuel described the collaboration as “unfortunate,” and noted that, “Cross River State is fast becoming a den of repression because more people are getting arrested for expressing their opinions.”

The rights group said; “The Cross River state authorities must stop the repression. The authorities must respect, protect, promote and ensure the right to freedom of expression and media freedom.”

“Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River state and the government of President Muhammadu Buhari must stop filing bogus and politically motivated charges against critics and start listening to what they have to say,” Amnesty said.

“The case of Agba Jalingo is just one of many cases of blatant violations of the right to freedom of expression and media freedom in Cross River state and several parts of Nigeria. Joseph Odok was also unlawfully detained and later charged with terrorism solely for expressing critical opinion on social media,” it said.

The rights group said it was also concerned that Jalingo’s trial “falls short of International standards of fairness, especially because the court has allowed witnesses to be masked and the trial to be held in secret.”

While calling for an end to the “sham trial” and “the flawed charges” to be dropped; Amnesty said it will continue to “push for Agba Jalingo’s immediate and unconditional release and work with other NGOs to hold the Cross River state authorities to account for the increasing assault on human rights.”