Constituents, LP Beg For Release Of Detained Enugu Lawmaker

The Chairman of the Labour Party in Enugu State, Barr Casmir Agbo, has described the continued detention of the member representing Enugu South Urban State Constituency in the state House of Assembly, Hon Bright Ngene, as politically motivated.

Agbo spoke at a protest by some members of the constituency during the opening of the 2026 Legal Year in Enugu. The protesters had demanded the release of the detained lawmaker. Our correspondent recalls that Ngene’s seat was nullified while he was in detention. In the following re-run, he won from prison, but had remained in custody since then.

Dr Agbo said the continued detention of the lawmaker amounted to injustice. In his words, “Injustice to one is injustice to another. I have told people that-be in Enugu State that what they are doing to Bright Ngene is an injustice to humanity. Whatever is the problem should not be the reason to deny this man the mandate freely given to him by his people. Enough is enough. He should be released and allowed to enjoy his mandate even if it is for 24 hours. What they are doing to him can emanate anytime to anybody, even in the next 100 years. Bright Ngene should be released. Those that are holding him are not the judiciary, but the state. LP won the election free and fair. I see no reason why the young man should be behind bars.”

He is innocent, Co-accused
One of the protesters and Ngene’s co-accused, Hon John Chukwuemeka Ewo, said Hon Ngene is not guilty of the matter that led to his conviction. He made the claim when he appeared on Enugu-based DreamFM’s ‘Political Voices’ on Tuesday.
Quoting him, “I’m concerned about the freedom of Barr Ngene. He won the Enugu South Urban State Constituency. He has been incarcerated for nearly two years. I am co-accused with him. I was imprisoned with him on the 20th June, 2024 but because my appeal to the Enugu State High Court went through, that was how I was discharged and acquitted on 23rd September 2025.”

He said those feeding the public that Hon Ngene committed fraud were economical with the truth. In his words, “It is important we don’t feed the public with wrong information. Bright Ngene is an innocent young man who has voluntarily decided to serve his community with his energy. He was wrongly incarcerated. I am a major stakeholder in the matter that took us to prison. It has to do with the management of our community’s resources. Coincidentally, I was the town union president then. Bright was never a member of the town union executive.”

He said by the constitution of his community, he had the authority to co-opt anybody to serve in any committee he deemed fit. Thus, he had appointed Hon Ngene to serve in one of such committees. He said, “Hon Ngene was appointed secretary of the Contract Awarding Committee handling awarding contracts of revenue collection to contractors. It was the community that was collecting the revenue. He could not have been involved in anything about mismanagement of funds. He is a victim of personal bitterness.”

He alleged that some interest sold Hon Ngene out because he did not automatically give them the contract to be collecting the revenue of the community. He said the ensuing misunderstanding led to the freezing of the accounts of the community. “Our community’s account was frozen by a court action, and the community needed a corporate account. We appealed to use Bright’s account. The same interest alleged that the money paid to Bright’s account was mismanaged. That was the case brought against him when he won the state House election.”

Barr Amechi Edeh, a stakeholder in the community, said his detention had denied his constituency development.

According to him, “The matter is political haunting. It is not the judiciary that is holding him. His incarceration is an intentional act from the state. His incarceration has caused a lot of harm in his constituency. In development, the people are lacking behind. We want the world to see it that it is an injustice. We want the governor to give an authority to the attorney general of the state to give the young man freedom so he can represent his people. After elections, everybody is under the governor. Ngene has not committed any offence that is not bailable.”

Barr CJS Okereke, a member of Ngene’s legal team, expressed sadness over what he called judicial frustration in the matter. Quoting him, “He who pays the piper dictates the tune. I have been on this case since his incarceration on 28th day of June 2024. We have followed the law. The law should let him go, but the interpreters of the law are the problem. They interpret in the negative, making me concur that there is a political undertone to this. We have a Criminal Code establishing the crime, and we have Punitive Section. We have also the Criminal Procedure Law and the Administration of Justice Law. Once the Administration of Justice Law is followed, justice comes to the fore. But where the law is circumvented, it is neither here nor there. We have followed the law.”

He claimed that during Hon Ngene’s trial at the Magistrates’ Court, there was no room for his counsel to defend him properly. “We did not file our final addresses and the court quickly rushed to judgement because something is happening somewhere. There is a very big ground of appeal. This ground of appeal has been long filed. Bail is a constitutional issue. What we are pursuing is bail pending appeal in a crime that is bailable, even from the police to the Magistrates’ Court. I wonder why it should be difficult to grant the young man bail.

“We have filed our notice and grounds of appeal. This matter was before a high court judge. Unfortunately when we adjourned for judgement, it was sat upon by the high court. It is not good to mention names. The high court refused to give judgement. The judges recused themselves. They said for personal reasons. We conceded. We asked for the file to be moved back to the chief judge for further re-assignment to another court. That matter stayed on transfer to the extent that it was caught up by the NBA conference last year. They said the matter has been assigned to another court. On the date the matter was to be heard, the judge said he couldn’t hear the matter for personal reasons.”
The lawyer said the matter was then moved to the Court of Appeal. “After our argument, the court said its jurisdiction had not been activated; that the high court has not come out to refuse the bail, but only recused themselves, therefore we should go back to the high court. Up till now, there is no counter or reply. We went further to serve notice that the matter is coming on the 29th of this month. He ought to have got his bail. If the judiciary is independent, they would have granted him bail.”

Leave the state alone, Dr Onyishi

Dr Reuben Onyishi, Special Adviser to Enugu State government on New Media, has, however, debunked linking Hon Ngene’s travails with the state. According to him, it is purely judicial. He explained that Hon Ngene was convicted of the crime by the court. He described the position of the Labour Party in the state as emotional.

Onyishi said, “Casmir Agbo is a lawyer, but the way he is talking, it doesn’t show that he is a legal practitioner. He is mixing up issues, and he is emotional about it. Law doesn’t work with emotions. Why are they accusing Enugu State of being behind the man’s travails? It is between him and his community. The community prosecuted him and he was found guilty and jailed. Where does the state come in here? Gov Mbah has no hands in his travails. If he is released and becomes a member of Enugu State House of Assembly, what does it take away from the governor in a House that almost everyone belongs to the same party?”

He said Gov Mbah is after delivering dividends of democracy to the people of the state, adding that, “If you are asking the governor to intervene, that is a different thing all together, but alleging that the governor is behind it is also another. If a section of his community demonstrated, it is not his entire community. On what grounds are you asking the governor to release him?”