A 19-year-old man, Promise Etete, has taken a member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Uduak Odudoh, to court to force the lawmaker to pay him N100 million in compensation for his illegal detention.
Etete, who is also seeking apologies from lawmakers, accused Odudoh of ordering police to arrest him sometime in 2020.
Police reportedly arrested and detained the young man, subsequently charging him with life-threatening death and character assassination after he posted a comment against lawmakers on Facebook.
In the post, Odudoh, who represents Ikot Abasi and the Easter Obolo constituency, was accused of representing a faction of his voters and not his entire constituency.
Premium Times reports that Etete said Ikot Abasi, with “scam leaders”, has remained “underdeveloped”.
According to Inibehe Effiong, Etete’s legal counsel, Etete had deactivated his Facebook account, but that was after the police had access to the article and printed copies of it.
Mr Effiong further explained that the charges against Etete were handed down by the magistrate in December 2020 after the legislator, Odudoh, failed to appear in court twice when the case was summoned.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 9, Mr. Effiong filed a lawsuit with the state’s Supreme Court, Uyo, seeking a court declaration of Mr. Etete’s arrest and detention as unlawful and a violation of his fundamental rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement, as guaranteed by Articles 35 and 41 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
Affiliated with the lawsuit are the Nigerian police and four others.
However, Mr Etete has reactivated his Facebook account, where in a recent post he again criticized Odudoh for donating wooden desks to a primary school in his constituency.
He added that the donation was an “eye service” in preparation for the upcoming 2023 general election.
