Court Interrogates Journalist, Adjourn Ursula Agbor’s Trial To August 13th

By CrossRiverWatch Admin

A Chief Magistrate Court sitting in Calabar and presided over by His Worship, Magistrate Eden Ecoma, has adjourned the trial of embattled media practitioner, Miss Ursula Agbor to August 13, 2025.

The adjournment is for the ruling on the objections raised by Okoi Obono-Obla Esq, counsel to Miss Agbor who objected to the three-count charge preferred against her while relying on Section 32 subsection 1 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) as well as provisions in the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Cross River State.

Miss Agbor was arraigned for providing false testimony to the Police, impersonation, and another charge.

But, her counsel on Monday, during his adumberations, described the charges as “Kangaroo charges, vague and targeted at menacing the defendant.” He argued that, “the court is not an avenue to menace people but an avenue to protect the liberty of the people.”

He prayed the Court to dismiss the charges against the defendant, adding that the defendant had been menaced by social media users.

Obla argued that the court must protect her client from “media trial.” He averred that; “they have brought someone here to film the proceeding, it is wrong,” he said, attacking a journalist (name withheld) who had visited the Court to inquire about proceedings on how best to obtain clearance to report on Court proceedings.

The journalist was quizzed by the Court, had his phone seized, with Court officials violating his privacy by going through the device to check whether he had photographed proceedings. The device was later released to him with the Court ordering him to depart after two witnesses including a Clerk and another judicial official attested that her had reached them asking how he could obtain clearance to photograph proceedings.

More details later…

NB: Editor’s Note – An earlier version of this report misused legal jargon that may have confused readers. We apologize for that oversight and will engage in training of staff to understand the proper use of legal terms in reporting.