Justice E.D. Onwu of the Enugu South Magistrate Court has sentenced Hon. Bright Ngene, the Labour Party candidate for Enugu South Urban state Constituency, to seven years’ imprisonment amidst accusations of judicial bias and political interference.
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The case dates back to 2017 when Ngene and two others were charged by the Enugu Police Command in connection with a community fund worth N15 million.
After Ngene’s victory in the March 2023 elections, defeating his PDP rival who contested the outcome, the government allegedly revived the case related to the community fund.
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Ngene, maintaining his innocence, alleged a conspiracy involving the state’s executive and judicial arms to derail his political career.
He claimed that the Chief Judge of Enugu State, along with other officials, colluded to ignore a pending petition before the National Judicial Council seeking intervention in his case.
Despite being elected and briefly serving in the Enugu State House of Assembly, Ngene’s tenure was cut short by a court petition from his PDP opponent, leading to re-run elections in disputed polling units.
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However, subsequent attempts at re-election were repeatedly disrupted.
During Thursday court proceedings, Ngene’s defense team, comprising C.J.S Okereke, Benjamin C. Nwobodo, and Fraben Awgu, protested vehemently against the magistrate’s refusal to adjourn the case for further preparation.
They accused Justice Onwu of bias and filed motions to transfer the case to another court due to perceived compromised neutrality.
“This court is biased. We have filed an application that the matter should be transferred to another court. Let another court see this matter because this court is compromised.”
Accusing Justice Onwu of compromising in the case, Okereke said that they petitioned National Judicial Council, that they were not happy with Onwu handling the matter.
“After his disposition, Onwu, became unbearable, we saw counter and conflicting orders, we wrote the Chief Judge of Enugu State for direction as to which court we are going to hear this matter, there was no reply. We wrote again and there was no reply and we were constrained to go to the highest disciplinary body of the bench, the NJC on June 7 and we got acknowledgment that the matter is being looked into.” Okereke said.
“I don’t know why this court still wants to hear the matter,” he lamented saying that there was a gang plan to commit his client to prison so that he would not participate in the rerun election to maintain his position at the Enugu State House of Assembly where he had been representing Enugu South Urban Constituency before the Court of Appeal annulled the election and called for a rerun in eight polling booths.
Community members from Akwuke, Ngene’s constituency, also staged protests condemning what they viewed as unjust judicial proceedings.
They brandished placards with various inscriptions such as “His Worship E D Ownu is grossly lawless and rascal in presiding the case”, “E D Ownu how much were you paid?” among other inscriptions
Despite petitions to the National Judicial Council and public outcry, including accusations of judicial misconduct, Justice Onwu proceeded to convict Ngene on Friday, sentencing him to seven years’ imprisonment.
