Former Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State leads the launch on Wednesday, February 15, 2023 of ‘A Stranger in their Midst’, the memoir of Mr Justice Charles Archibong (rtd) at The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos with Chief Anthony Ani, a former Minister of Finance, serving as chairman.

Dr Olisa Agbakoba SAN will be the Guest Speaker and Adeyinka Olumide Fusika SAN the book reviewer at the high-profile book presentation with the theme “Judicial jeopardy in the past decade”.

The book presentation comes against the backdrop of growing concern with judicial pronouncements in Nigeria. Speakers at the event and the distinguished panel to dissect the book will speak to the issues highlighted in the book and current concerns with the judiciary.

A Stranger in Their Midst is a 228-page autobiography focusing on the judicial career of Mr Justice Charles Archibong at the Federal High Court in several locations across the country.

Charles E Archibong served on the bench of the Federal High Court from 2002 to 2013. The Federal High Court is the primary superintending forum of Nigeria’s federal system, with jurisdiction over the executive activity of the federal government and all its agencies. The book details matters that came before Justice Archibong during his time as a Federal Judge. The cases ranged from the abduction of a sitting state governor, the recall of the Deputy Senate President, a trial of activists of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, to pushing through trial a claim against federal authorities over publication of an air accident report, oil magnates and communications czars tangling with their creditors.

Things reach a climax when Justice Archibong collides with senior lawyers engaged on behalf of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to conduct a major criminal trial and about the same time the Judge gets caught in the crossfire of feuding political bigwigs fighting for the control of party-political structures. These conflicts will lead to the premature termination of his judicial career.

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