Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) has condemned the detention of Inibehe Effiong and Jackie Ikeotuonye, lawyers arrested on July 27 and August 1, 2022 respectively.

Director of HOMEF, Nnimmo Bassey, stated, yesterday, that it is outrageous and condemnable that citizens are oppressed in such a manner for demanding their due or exercising their rights.

In a statement signed by Jasper Koikoibo, a lawyer and advocacy officer at HOMEF, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the environmentalists described the two lawyers as law-abiding citizens of Nigeria.

“We denounce such an abuse of power and condemn these attempts to criminalise dissent,” the statement added.

The news about the jailing of Effiong, allegedly “for contempt of court”, by the Akwa Ibom State went viral after the human rights lawyer shared it on his Twitter handle.

Also, Ikeotuonye had alerted the public of her arrest via social media.

Her Facebook post read: “Nigeria! You win a case against a governor and he sends policemen to arrest you.”

She had reportedly won a case against Governor Dave Umahi, which mandated that she be paid the N30 million the Ebonyi State government owed her.