UWAZURIKE'S N250,000 STOLEN, DENIED BAIL
Detained leader of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MOSSOB, Chief Ralph Uwazurike on Tuesday dragged top officials of the Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) before a Federal High Court for allegedly stealing N250,000 belonging to him. Named in the suit as 1st - 4th defendants are Olaniran O. O, the Comptroller of Prisons, Nasarawa State, the Comptroller of Prisons, Nigerian Prison Service and the Nigerian Prison Service. According to an affidavit in support of the suit, Uwazurike claimed that the said sum of money was kept on his behalf by Olaniran with records to back the claim.
Also, the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja refused bail for the leader of MASSOB. The court, situated within the premises of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) building, was as early as 7.30 am besieged by kinsmen of Uwazurike, who had come to pray the presiding judge, Justice Binta Murtala Nyako to grant him bail, after hinting of her willingness to grant such if Uwazurike meets the two conditions she handed down when she last heard the case.
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The conditions were that the applicant supplies the court with his mother's death certificate and secondly, a first class chief from his place signs an undertaking as surety for him. But when the matter finally came up on Tuesday, Murtala-Nyako was not satisfied with the efforts of the MASSOB leader's counsel, Festus Keyamo to meet the conditions. According to her, the Death Certificate of the applicant's mother was not convincing, as it was issued by a private hospital. Murtala-Nyako held that only a certificate issued by any General Hospital would be accepted by her. She also faulted the fact that Keyamo got an Igbo Chief resident in Abuja instead of one from his client's constituency in Imo State as a surety.