By Ogenyi Ogenyi,Uyo
The Ekpri Nsukara Offot Village Council has strongly condemned the continuous and ill-motivated campaign of calumny against Eteidung Emem Asikpo by one Udeme Asuquo, operating under an amorphous group, Voice of Liberation Network (VLN).
The community said Asuquo, acting on behalf of himself and others, had soon, after his group lost out in the race to have their desired aspirant to emerge as the village head in 2023, consistently embarked on the mission of spewing falsehood and writing unfounded petitions against Asikpo.
“Since then, Udeme Eyo Asuquo and his group have taken it upon themselves to concoct, instigate, fabricate and raise non-existent happenings against Eteidung Emem Denis Asikpo in a bit to tarnish his reputation and cause crisis in the community with the sole intention to have him removed from the throne,” the community leaders stated.
In a statement yesterday in Uyo,Comrade Morris Bassey, Chairman, Village Council and two others urged members of the public to disregard a news report published in an online media – the Sahara Reporters of Thursday, November 27, captioned “Akwa-Ibom Residents Petition Tinubu, Accuse Police Officers, Village Heads Of Land-Grabbing, Attempted Murder.”
According to the community, the mastermind of the online news reports won’t be anyone else other than Udeme Eyo Asuquo as the name of his group, Voice of Liberation Network (VLN), is mentioned as the petitioner.
The community recalled that he had equally sent a petition to the Deputy Inspector General of Police on February 27, 2025, which led to the unlawful arrest and detention of Eteidung Emem Denis Asikpo from March 8 – 12, 2025 at both the Akwa Ibom State Police Command and the Police Headquarters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
“However, the petitioner Udeme Eyo Asuquo was unable to provide any tangible evidence to buttress any of the allegations, which caused the Police authorities to release Eteidung Emem Denis Asikpo, and then requested the Paramount Ruler of Uyo to look into any dispute between the parties.
“Surprisingly, Udeme Eyo Asuquo failed to show up on the date the case was fixed. Again, after being granted the request for adjournment, he still dishonoured the traditional council by failing to appear on another hearing date,” they stated.” The statement said.
The community also accused Asuquo of raising fresh petition against Asikpo to the Police Headquarters in Abuja, leading to another round of arrest, and yet he could not substantiate his claims.
It added that upon sensing his possible interdiction for his ignoble activities, Asuquo absconded from the Police headquarters and abandoned the matter only to resurface now with cooked up information to the online media outlet, Sahara Reporters.
They warned him to desist forthwith from his penchant of recycling false allegations against the village head and by extension the entire village, and to accept the reality that kingship comes from God.
Meanwhile, an Uyo High Court presided over by His Lordship Hon. Justice Bassey Ekanem has given judgement in a suit filed by the Village Head against Asuquo, Inspector David Etim, Furtune Bassey and others, seeking for the enforcement of his right to dignity of human person, right to personal liberty and right to freedom of movement as guaranteed under sections 34(1), 35(1) and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Court upheld that that the arrest and detention of Asikpo for a period of five days without trial amounted to an infringement of his personal liberty under section 35(1) and his freedom of movement under section 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended. It held that the Police misuse of its powers was at the instigation of Udeme Eyo Asuquo.
The Court stated that “while the Police have a duty to investigate criminal complaints, this duty must be exercised judiciously and not be allowed to become an instrument for civil coercion.”
“Having considered the totality of the facts and circumstances of this case, and guided by relevant authorities and constitutional provisions, I find and hold that the complaint made by the 1st respondent (Udeme Eyo Asuquo) to the Police was malicious and made without reasonable or probable cause.
“A detention period of five days is clearly unconstitutional, being far beyond the 48-hour limit. No remand order was shown to exist, nor was any compelling justification offered by the Respondents. In my respectful view, this constitutes a grave and flagrant breach of the Applicant’s right to liberty guaranteed under Section 35 of the Constitution.
“From the totality of the evidence and the law, it is clear that both the arrest and subsequent detention of the Applicant were unlawful. The arrest was effected without adherence to due process or reasonable suspicion supported by facts, while the detention exceeded the constitutional time limit without lawful justification.
“The actions of the Respondents, therefore, amounted to an arbitrary and unconstitutional violation of the Applicant’s fundamental rights. Accordingly, this issue is resolved in favour of the Applicant,” the judge ruled.
The Court, accordingly awarded damages in the sum of N1million against Asuquo for violation of the applicant’s fundamental human rights and also awarded N2milion against Inspector David Etim and Fortune Bassey, jointly and severally for violation of the Applicant’s constitutional rights.
It also granted injunction restraining the Respondents, their agents and servants from further harassing, intimidating, or threatening to arrest and detain the Applicant in connection with the subject matter of this case.
