Chief magistrate B.O Osunsanmi of a Lagos Magistrate Court sitting in<\/p>\n
Ikeja on Friday ordered that Robert Azibaola a cousin to former President
\nGoodluck Jonathan be ramnded in the custody of the Economic and Financial
\nCrimes Commission (EFCC) pending the completion of investigation into an
\nalleged diversion of $40 million dollars through One-Plus Holdings, a
\nsister company of Kakatar Construction Limited which was for securing oil
\npipelines.<\/p>\n
The payment was said to have been made by the detained former National
\nSecurity Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd).<\/p>\n
Robert Aziboala who has been in EFCC custody since 23rd of March 2016 has
\nchallenged his detention by the commission .<\/p>\n
He approached a high court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the
\nenforcement of his fundamental human rights In a motion ex-parte dated and
\nfiled on April 5 and brought pursuant to Order 5 Rules 3 and 4 of the
\nfundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, Section 35 of the
\n1999 Constitution (as amended) praying the court to grant hm an interim
\nbail pending his arraignment before a court of law by the respondent
\n(EFCC) or pending the determination of the substantive motion in this
\nsuit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Goodluck Olasunbor of the Federal Capital Territory held that
\nRobert\u2019s detention by the EFCC for over two weeks was unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
Justice Olasunbor said that the applicant(Robert) had disclosed sufficient
\nevidence before the court to warrant the granting of his reliefs. Relying
\non the exact provision of the constitution\u00a0 the judge averred that under
\nsection 35 (5) of the said provision , the constitution provides that a
\nperson who is under arrest or detention shall be brought before a court of
\nlaw within reasonable time<\/p>\n
The judge however\u00a0 admitted him to bail pending his arraignment before a
\ncourt of law or pending the determination of the substantive motion on
\nnotice in this suit,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n
However\u00a0 said the applicant\u2019s bail shall be with two sureties. Each surety
\nshall be a serving or retired Director in any of the federal government
\nministries or parastatal and must be resident within the federal capital
\nterritory. The applicant shall deposit his international passport to the
\nChief Registrar of this Court.<\/p>\n
In the same vein, the court ordered the EFCC to release Robert\u2019s colleague
\nand Executive Director of Kakatar Construction and Engineering Company
\nLimited, Mr. Dakoru Atukpa who had also been in detention for the same
\nperiod.<\/p>\n
A new twist however transpired as Robert was moved from Abuja to Lagos by
\nthe EFCC only to be taken to the Lagos Magistrate court Ikeja asking for
\nan order for his detention which was granted Robert’s counsel, Gboyega
\nOyewole described as unfortunate the disregard of an order of court by the
\nEFCC is an afront to his clients and the constitution . ” It is unlawful
\nand and the commission should be called to order”.<\/p>\n
He said, ” Robert ought to be enjoying the bail granted him by the FCT
\nhigh court . EFCC did not disclose this to the Lagos magistrate court ,
\nJustice Osunsanmmi . The EFCC had tried to extend the remand order from
\nthe magistrate court in the Federal capital but had met a brick in the
\nlight of the subsisting order by Justice Olasumbo of the Abuja high court
\nreleasing him on bail.<\/p>\n
Another counsel to Azibaola, Chief Chris Uche (SAN) said, \u00fd”This is
\nscandalous to say the least. It is a sad irony that a Commission that
\nclaims that nobody is above the law is portraying itself as being above
\nthe law.\u00fd<\/p>\n
“What they did in Lagos is forum shopping and an abuse of court process.
\nThey knew that such impunity will not work in Abuja, the reason they went
\nto Lagos to continue the illegal detention of my client using the guise of
\nfresh charges against him. This is \u00fdan unfortunate attemtpt to undermine
\nthe positive order of the court and overreach the order to release my
\nclient on bail. We shall take all necessary steps to \u00fdensure that this
\nimpunity does not stand.
\nThe matter before the Lagos magistrate court was adjourned to 23rd May.
\nRobert was however remanded at the EFCC custody<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chief magistrate B.O Osunsanmi of a Lagos Magistrate Court sitting in Ikeja on Friday ordered that Robert Azibaola a cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan be ramnded in the custody…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48628,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n