Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, granted the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, bail in the sum of N500 million with two sureties in like sum.<\/p>\nThis was after the former governor had pleaded not guilty to the 19-count charges brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.<\/p>\n
He is facing an alleged money laundering trial to the tune of N80bn but pleaded not guilty to all the charges.<\/p>\n
When the case was called for hearing on Friday, Counsel for the EFCC, Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, notified the court of the intention of the prosecution to withdraw an earlier application for abridgment of the earlier date fixed for arraignment.<\/p>\n
He said the application had been overtaken by events. The defendant\u2019s counsel, led by Joseph Daudu, SAN, did not object, and Justice Emeka Nwite accordingly granted the request.<\/p>\n
After the defendant had taken his plea, Daudu, SAN, made clarifications on the reasons he had not been in court during the previous hearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to place on record that for any impression that might have been created that the defendant did not wish to appear before your lordship, coincidentally, the ruling on my lord\u2019s sitting this morning dealt with the issue of jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the defendant did was to ask his counsel to challenge the jurisdiction of the court, which got to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it was not wishful disrespect, but he was only trying to defend himself. So we all hold your lordship in high esteem. If that impression must have been, he should not have presented himself for arraignment. That episode is gone, and things are clearer now,\u201d the counsel stated.<\/p>\n
While moving an application for bail, he assured that the former governor would always be present in court for the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am saying this with the highest sense of responsibility that the defendant, a two-term governor of Kogi State who travelled only two times out of his eight years in service, will always be present in court at all times.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be no apprehension that he will jump bail. So we urge your lordship to grant us very reasonable conditions of bail such that he will be able to bear,\u201d the defendant\u2019s counsel said.<\/p>\n
He commended the prosecution counsel, saying he had conducted himself in the best tradition because the matter was not a do-or-die one.<\/p>\n
He said they had agreed that the counsels would not stress his lordship over the issue of bail.<\/p>\n
The prosecution counsel concurred.<\/p>\n
Pinheiro, SAN, said, \u201cI must express my honour to the very eminent lead senior counsel. He is a man of immense stature, not because of his size.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do respect him as former president of NBA. I also confirm that we have been engaging in a series of discussions to ease the burden on your lordship in compliance with Rule 26 of the Rules of Professional Ethics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also note that your lordship had delivered not less than five rulings in this matter and it is our aim to ease the work. We are prosecutors, not persecutors, and EFCC is a professional commission, a prosecutorial, and not prosecutorial commission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cWe accept the assurances of the very eminent SAN that the defendant will make himself available subject to your lordship\u2019s discretionary terms that may be imposed.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy so doing, we will ease the burden on the court. Therefore, we will not be opposing the eminent SAN\u2019s submission.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecution counsel said though they had filed a counter-affidavit, they would not oppose the bail, going by the assurances of the learned SAN.<\/p>\n
Ruling on the bail application, Justice Nwite said, \u201cI have listened to the submissions of both counsels. It is not in dispute that both counsels have filed applications in respect of this.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on the account exhibited by learned counsel for the defendant, which was exhibited and supported by prosecution counsel, I am minded to change my earlier stand on this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n
He granted the defendant N500 million bail with two sureties.<\/p>\n
\u201cSureties must be landed property owners within the jurisdiction of this court. They must swear to affidavits of means. The title deeds of properties to be verified by the court registrar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The defendant was also asked to submit his international passport, and he would remain at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the perfection of the bail conditions.<\/p>\n
It will be recalled that the ex-governor was earlier remanded in a fresh N110bn charge by EFCC, pending his bail application.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the judge has fixed February 24, 2025, for hearing into the matter.<\/p>\n
Source: Daily Post Nigeria<\/b><\/p>\n
For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Kayode Lawal Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Federal High Court, Abuja, on Friday, granted the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, bail in the sum of N500 million with two sureties in like sum. This was after the former governor had pleaded not guilty to the 19-count charges brought against him by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":142335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1437,29,28,2660],"tags":[1578,69,2143,254,615],"class_list":["post-142336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-to-homepage","tag-breaking","tag-court","tag-kuje-prison","tag-nigeria","tag-yahaya-bello"],"yoast_head":"\n
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