Journalist, Agba Jalingo has finally left correctional centre custody having met the conditions on which a Federal High Court granted him bail last week.
Jalingo was arrested in August 2019 and spent 174 days (approximately five months) in detention.
He was charged with conspiracy, terrorism, treasonable felony and an attempt to topple the state government.
The publisher of Cross River Watch was granted bail to the tune of N10 million by the Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, Cross River State.
He was first arraigned in court on August 22, 2019, after publishing a story accusing Governor Ben Ayade of misappropriating N500 million earmarked for the state’s microfinance bank.
However, the state governor denied being behind the journalist’s ordeal.
Amnesty International had declared the activist “a prisoner of conscience” due to his lengthy incarceration.
Human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who announced the news of Jalingo’s freedom, wrote: “Freed at last, welcome back my brother. History will vindicate the just. Agba Jalingo has been released after perfecting his bail conditions.”
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