Date Published: 06/24/09

Fake Mrs Yar’Adua to remain in prison custody

The expectation of Mrs Joy Asabe Williams alias Hajiya Asabe Shehu Musa Yar’Adua that she would regain freedom on Monday June22, 2009 was dashed when Justice Abubakar Talba of the FCT High Court, Gudu adjourned ruling on her bail application to June 29 and ordered her remanded in Suleja prison along with her co-accused, Lilian Anyanwu.

The two accused and Ibrahim Gaya, now at large, were first arraigned before the Court on a three count charge of alleged impersonation and seeking to obtain money by false pretence. The accused persons were said to have on or about the 13 th day of May 2009 in Abuja conspired to obtain money from the Comptroller General of Customs by false pretence and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8(a) of the Advance Fee Fraud and other related offences Act 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.

In one of the charges, the 1 st accused person was alleged to have falsely presented herself as the wife of the late Major General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, former Chief of Army Staff Supreme Headquarters, in the military regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo in her attempt to hoodwink the Comptroller General of Customs .

When the matter came up on Monday June 22, counsel to EFCC, Peter Aso told the court that he was only served the bail motion by counsel to the accused persons on the 18 th of June and therefore asked the court to grant him the statutory 48 hours to respond. He told the court that with Saturday being observed as weekend, he was entitled to Friday and Monday to study the motion and respond.

However, counsel to the first accused person, D. A. Sulayman pleaded with the court to grant his client bail as the offence for which they were being held was bailable. He told the court that he had filed a 17 paragraph affidavit to support the bail application. The purpose of bail he noted, was to enable an accused person have access to his lawyer and make adequate preparation for the trial which will not be possible if the person is incarcerated. He cited the ruling of Obaseki JSC in the case of Inusa Saidu Vs the State (1994) “It does not give the court any joy to see offenders escape the penalty they richly deserve but until they are proved guilty under the appropriate law in our court, they are entitled to walk about in our streets and tread the Nigeria soil and breathe the Nigeria air as free and innocent men and women,” he quoted.

Counsel to the 2 nd accused person, Enyinnaya Nwosu also canvassed the same position that the court should grant bail to the accused person. In his submission, he stated that based on the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, an accused person is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Justice Abubakar Talba however adjourned the matter to June 29 for ruling on the bail application while directing that the accused should be taken back to prison custody.