Mrs Chioma Edoka Okoli, a woman who was previously arrested for reviewing the tomato product of Erisco Foods Limited has received the sum of N1.9 million donation for legal fees.
This was confirmed by her lawyer, Inibehe Effiong on Thursday morning.
The lawyer said as of Wednesday evening, the total amount donated by well-meaning Nigerians for Chioma stood at N1,968,327.75.
Okoli was arrested and detained in September 2023.
Mr Chizoba Okoli, the husband of Chioma last Tuesday narrated how his family was put under house arrest by the police after officers stormed their residence and attempted to rearrest his wife despite a court order restraining the police from doing so.
Chizoba said in a video posted by Effiong on X that the police disconnected his flat from the national power grid, leaving his pregnant wife and little children without electricity.
Mr Effiong had said that he would rather go to prison than compromise or convince his client to tender an apology to the Chief Executive Officer of Erisco Foods Limited over her review of the firm’s tomato product on Facebook.
The lawyer said that people had been pressuring him to advise Okoli to beg or settle with Erisco but “my attitude to law practice and life in general is one of no compromise on matters of principle, truth and rule of law.
“I went to prison for one month for refusing to compromise and I am ready to be imprisoned again. But what I will never do is to capitulate.”
When providing an update on the case to the lawyer stated that the lawsuit had been delayed due to the promotion of the trial judge who was initially sitting on the matter. He said the new judge handling the case had yet to set a date for the hearing.
He said, “Justice A. R. Mohammed, the judge handling the charge filed by the police in Abuja has been elevated from the Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal.
“Justice Lifu has been transferred from the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court to Abuja to take over the cases handled by Justice A. R. Mohammed. No date has been given yet.”
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