The wife of Chris Kehinde Nwandu, jailed Nigeria’s popular blogger and online journalist, yesterday appealed to the Federal High Court Judge, Muhammed Yunusa to grant her husband bail.
Chris has been jailed since last week, awaiting arraignment for Nigeria’s cyber-crime and defamation charges.
Mr. Nwandu was denied bail, third time yesterday morning by the High Court Judge.
The judge, without any reasons, postponed Nwandu’s bail hearing till September 15th. Nwandu remains in jail at the Ikoyi Prisons in Lagos.
Mrs. Oghogho Nwandu is appealing to the Judge to order the immediate release of her husband by granting him bail.
“My husband’s right to bail and due process of the law is being abused by the Police at FSU. He has a right to face his accusers in the court and defend himself from the allegations. He appeared three times before the honorable Judge Muhammad Yunusa; each time he was denied bail without reasons. He is being charged with “accomplice to defamation” because he reposted a story of alleged affairs and infidelity involving the MD of Fidelity Bank of Nigeria. Yesterday was the third time my husband’s bail application was postponed. My husband is now very sick at the Ikoyi prison due to the unhealthy and inhuman condition of the prison. His life is continuously under threat and harassment in prison. I am pleading to Nigeria’s Human Rights organizations, The Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Union of Journalists, The National Human Rights Commission and Nigerians and world leaders and media organizations to help me seek bail for my husband. If he has been charged with any crime, he should not be in Jail, he should be given his due process and let justice prevail. Please Justice Muhammad Yunusa, let my husband be bailed out so that he would face the charges in court of law, not in Prison. He is innocent until proven guilty. PLEASE SET MY HUSBAND FREE. ALLOW DUE PROCESS OF THE LAW. GRANT MY HUSBAND BAIL NOW”
Mr. Nwandu within the past five years, published over 20,000 stories: none has been libelous. He has also won over 10 local and international awards for outstanding performance in online journalism.