Joseph Odok, a Nigerian lawyer and a well-known critic of the governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade, has been charged with terrorism.
Mr Odok could be sentenced to death if found guilty.
The lawyer was brought before the Federal High Court, Calabar, on Tuesday by the police in Cross River after spending several days in detention.
He is also charged with cybercrime for allegedly accusing the chief of staff to Mr Ayade of being a cultist.
He pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge.
Justice Simon Amobeda ordered that Mr Odok be remanded in Calabar prison pending when his bail application would be heard on October 29.
“What they call terrorism, according to the prosecution counsel, is that he incited his community people against another community,” Mr Odok’s lawyer, Oliver Osang, stated. “The charges are phantom charges, they are politically motivated.”
The lawyer was arrested on September 26 in Abuja and taken to Calabar by road.
His Facebook page contains critical remarks on Mr Ayade.
In one of his posts on the social media site in September, Mr Odok described the governor as a ‘joker”’
“Ayade keep getting it wrong with lofty projects. Why talk of Spaghetti flyover when you have not maintained or completed a single road project from your first administration?
“A man that can’t complete a single road keeps talking Super High Way, Deep Sea Port and now Spaghetti flyover. This joke is getting out of hands,” he wrote on Facebook.
Mr Ayade’s spokesperson, Christian Ita, had denied the governor’s involvement in the arrest and detention of Mr Odok.
“It’s wrong for people to describe as the governor’s critic, anyone arrested by the police. The governor does not know anything about his arrest, the police are in a better position to tell you why they have arrested him,” Mr Ita told PREMIUM TIMES.
Another critic of Governor Ayade, Agba Jalingo, is facing treason trial over a report published in his newspaper, alleging that the governor diverted N500 million belonging to the Cross River state government.
Mr Jalingo, a journalist and publisher of an online newspaper, CrossRiverWatch, is currently remanded in the Calabar prison.
Premium Times