Court exonerates A’Ibom speaker

The Federal High Court 2 in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has exonerated the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr. Onofiok Luke, against charges that his convoy assaulted a doctor, David Udo and restricted his freedom of movement.

The presiding judge, Justice Fatun Riman, said in his ruling yesterday that the suit lacked merit as the speaker did not directly assault the applicant or restrict his movement.

Counsel to the applicant, Mr. Inibehe Effiong, said though he had reservations on the court’s ruling, he would respect it.

“The court gave judgement to say that the applicant has not proved his case. We respect the court but we strongly disagree with the judgement because we feel there were issues on the evaluation of evidence,” he said.