Ngene: A Drunken Government; A Judiciary in Stupor — and Their Serving Bar

By Citizen Bolaji O. Akinyemi

The man, the mandate, the moment

Bright Emeka Ngene is a lawyer, a Labour Party (LP) politician, and now the people’s paradox: a lawmaker-elect who keeps winning elections while serving a seven-year sentence imposed by a magistrate court in Enugu. First, he won the Enugu South Urban (a.k.a. Enugu South I) State Constituency seat in the March 18, 2023 elections. After tribunals ordered serial reruns, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) again declared him winner of the latest rerun held on August 16, 2025 — a victory secured from a prison cell.

How did Nigeria get here? A long-dormant 2017 police case over alleged N15m community funds in Akwuke — previously routed to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) — was suddenly revived after Ngene’s 2023 win. On July 28, 2024, an Enugu South Magistrate (E.D. Onwu) sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment. Observers and his supporters insist the case was rushed, politically weaponised, and repeatedly deployed to frustrate elections until the August 16, 2025 rerun finally stuck.

Power drunk, justice asleep!

What does it mean when a citizen wins — and wins again — while incarcerated? It means the people have delivered a referendum: the state’s punitive machinery may cage a man, but it cannot imprison a mandate. It also exposes a system staggering between executive overreach and judicial paralysis.

Multiple reports from this year’s Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Annual General Conference (AGC) in Enugu capture citizens’ accusations that the state judiciary is bowing to political pressure: judges recusing one after another, the Chief Judge allegedly refusing to assign the matter at the High Court, due process denied. Whether or not every allegation is eventually proven, the public perception is unmistakable — a justice system that looks captured or comatose.

The charge sheet for the system reads as follows:

Executive intoxication: A case long settled at ADR re-emerges “under instruction” in the heat of electoral contests. The symbolism is ugly even before the lawfulness is tested on appeal.

Judicial stupor: A seven-year sentence handed down by a magistrate against the backdrop of electoral rivalry, followed by procedural fog at the High Court and serial election disruptions, erodes public trust.

Democratic inversion: INEC conducts elections that courts repeatedly nullify, yet voters refuse to be nullified — returning the same verdict: Ngene.

Citizens spoke — at the NBA’s front door

On opening day, constituents marched to the NBA AGC venue with simple but piercing messages: “Free the people’s choice,” “NBA please help release Barr Bright Ngene,” “Say no to miscarriage of justice.” Their demand was direct — let the courts work, let appeals be heard, let an elected representative represent. This was not a riot; it was a civic alarm clock ringing in the foyer of the legal profession itself.

What has the NBA done so far?

Citizen protests at the AGC are now widely reported, amplified across major media. Senior Bar figures have reportedly engaged the matter in recent days, pressing for movement of the case. Yet as of this writing, no official NBA communiqué directly addresses Ngene’s imprisonment, nor has the AGC leadership frontally flagged it beyond acknowledging protests at the venue. Visibility, yes; decisive institutional action, not yet.

> Bottom line: the Bar is on notice — in its own house.

What the NBA must do — now

1. Constitute an emergency Rule-of-Law Taskforce with a 7-day mandate to secure the full case file, certified court records, and timelines; then identify immediate remedies (stay of execution, bail pending appeal, expedited hearing).

2. Amicus interventions at the High Court/Appellate levels, focusing on fair-hearing deficits (Section 36, 1999 Constitution), undue haste, and jurisdictional anomalies.

3. Petition the NJC for administrative review where credible claims of non-assignment or recusals have paralysed access to justice; request urgent reassignment.

4. Lead Defence Consortium (pro bono): cross-regional counsel team to shield proceedings from local pressure and guarantee continuity.

5. Open-door diplomacy: meet the Enugu CJ and Attorney-General on record, demand timelines, and publish minutes.

6. Trial monitoring: NBA observers to file daily briefs until the appellate process begins.

7. If domestic remedies stall: prepare a parallel rights brief for the ECOWAS Court alleging suppression of political rights and fair-hearing violations.

What the public can do — concretely

Sustain lawful, non-violent pressure: peaceful assemblies, petitions, documented evidence.

Write targeted petitions to the CJ of Enugu, President of the Court of Appeal, and NJC, attaching INEC’s declaration and the representation vacuum.

Launch a transparent constituency defence fund to cover litigation and citizen-monitoring costs.

Amplify globally: brief international bar associations, human-rights groups, and press desks with fact-checked timelines, election results, and today’s protest coverage.

What Ngene’s prison victory says about the APC-led order

When a man oppressed, suppressed, and incarcerated still defeats the ruling ecosystem at the ballot, the message is unambiguous: the people have sobered up — it is the government.

Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He’s also President Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table. BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative, AKA PVC Naija. He is a strategic Communicator and the C.E.O, Masterbuilder Communications.

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