Former NBA 1st Vice President and senior legal practitioner, John Aikpokpo-Martins, has called on lawyers to support their colleague, Mr. Bright Emeka Ngene, an Enugu-based legal practitioner who has been held at the Enugu Correctional Centre since his conviction in 2024.

Ngene was charged in 2017 before a Magistrate Court over alleged conspiracy and theft arising from a community-related conflict. After a protracted legal process, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years imprisonment on both counts by His Worship E.D. Onwu on June 28, 2024.

Following his conviction, Ngene filed an appeal and simultaneously applied for bail pending appeal. The application was initially assigned to Hon. Justice C.O. Ajah, Ph.D., but on March 11, 2025, Justice Ajah recused himself and sent the case file to the Chief Judge of Enugu State for reassignment. According to Aikpokpo-Martins, the Chief Judge has yet to reassign the matter, leaving Ngene without a determination on his bail application since March.

In a public statement, Aikpokpo-Martins, alongside Bayo Akinlade, invited lawyers to join them in visiting Ngene at the correctional centre on Saturday, immediately following a scheduled health walk.

“We are of the firm view that no lawyer deserves to be asphyxiated, degraded, and humiliated by the very profession of which he is a member,” Aikpokpo-Martins said, urging colleagues with conscience to volunteer and accompany them.

The call has been described as a move to highlight concerns over delays in judicial processes and the treatment of legal practitioners within the justice system.

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