Date Published: 04/28/09

NERC Fraud: Owan, 6 others get stringent bail conditions

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court where the suspended seven officials of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) were arraigned on a 197-count charge of fraud were on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 granted bail with stringent conditions after spending about a week in EFCC custody on the orders of the court.

The suspects include Dr. Ransome Owan,(suspended chairman) and his six commissioners namely, Mallam Abdurahman Ado (Market Competition and Rates), Professor Onwuamaeze Iloeje, (Research and Development). Dr. Abdurazaq Alimi, (legal Licensing and Enforcement), Engr Mohammed Bunu (Finance and Management Services); Engr Abimbola Odubiyi (Engineering Standard and Safety) and Dr. Grace Eyoma (Government and Consumer Affairs)

Though their application for bail was granted by the FCT High Court today, April 28,they will however have to meet some stringent bail conditions before they can breathe temporary air of freedom. Their bail conditions include the following:

In his motion for bail, counsel to the 1 st and 2 nd accused persons, Paul Erokoro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria had argued that the accused persons were entitled to bail as the offence for which they were being tried was bailable, and not a capital offence. He also argued that an accused person was presumed innocent until proven guilty. That same line of argument was canvassed by counsel to the other accused persons. While A. J. Offiah, a Senior Advocate was counsel to Professor Onwuamaeze Iloeje, Layi Babatunde, also a SAN represented the 4 th accused person while Dr. Tunji Abayomi, stood in for the 5 th, 6 th and 7 th accused persons.

However, in his counter motion, counsel to EFCC, Godwin Obla, said the offence for which the accused were arraigned was grave and that if they were found guilty it carries 14 years imprisonment. He had also argued that granting the suspects bail could impede further investigation by EFCC.

Ruling on the bail application, Justice Salisu Garba, noted the accused persons have been suspended from office and so have no access to documents. He noted that the prosecution counsel failed to establish how granting bail could impede or influence any further investigation by EFCC. The Presiding Judge said since the accused persons were granted administrative bail by EFCC before their arraignment, he had no sufficient reason not to grant them bail. For the 4 th accused person however, Justice Garba said based on the medical report made available to the court, he had no objection but to grant Dr. Abdulrazaq Alimi bail on the grounds of ill-health

But soon after the judgment was read, counsel to the accused persons almost unanimously agreed that the bail conditions would be difficult to meet. AJ. Offiah, SAN, counsel to the 3 rd accused person pleaded with the judge to grant them another opportunity.

According to her, she and her client may be returning to the court again to seek for lesser bail conditions. Dr. Tunji Abayomi, counsel to 5 th, 6 th, and 7 th accused persons said the bail conditions were too stiff, claiming that his clients do not know people who could stand surety for them with such conditions. “They are tough conditions but we will try our best to meet them. I don’t think any of them own a property in Abuja,” he said. Abayomi’s view tallies with that of Paul Erokoro, SAN counsel to the first accused person, who said “to find a surety will be a big challenge. It’s not going to be easy to meet these conditions.” For John Aduma, who represented Godwin Obla, counsel to EFCC, the bail condition was fair. “Considering the charges and the amount involved, I do believe it is fair. We are talking about a lot of money here”, he said.

Justice Salihu Garba fixed May 26, 2009 for hearing of the case.