The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court, has granted bail to Senate<\/p>\n
President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and two other accused
\npersons \u2014 Salisu Maikasuwa, former clerk of the national assembly, and
\nBenedict Efeturi, deputy clerk of the legislature.<\/p>\n
Saraki, Ekweremadu and others were docked before Justice Yusuf Haliru over
\ntheir alleged complicity in forgery of the Senate Standing Rules, 2015.<\/p>\n
They pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge preferred against them by
\nthe federal government.<\/p>\n
Shortly after the defendants entered their plea to the charge marked
\nCR\/219\/16, the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mr. Mohammed Diri,
\nnotified the court of FG\u2019s counter-affidavit opposing release of the
\naccused persons on bail.<\/p>\n
Diri told the court that the counter-affidavit which was filed Monday
\nmorning, was still pending before the court\u2019s registry.<\/p>\n
He therefore persuaded trial Justice Yusuf Halilu to stand-down the matter
\nfor an hour to enable the registry to transmit the process to the court
\nfor hearing.<\/p>\n
In his argument, Saraki\u2019s counsel, Paul Erokoro asked the court to grant
\nthe Senate President bail on self-recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire proof of service did not mention the third defendant (Saraki)
\nin this case. The police never investigated the third defendant. It is a
\nnotorious fact that the third defendant has been standing trial at the
\nCode of Conduct Tribunal, (CCT) so it is ridiculous to say he will run
\naway. He is the president of the senate, where will he run to? He is too
\nbig to hide.\u200e I urge your lordship to grant him bail on self-recognition,\u201d
\nhe argued.<\/p>\n
Joseph Daodu, counsel to Ekweremadu, who stated that it is shameful how
\nthe country is denting its democracy by the trial, requested the court to
\ngrant his\u200e client bail on self-recognition, adding that he is ready for
\ntrial.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe third and fourth (Ekweremadu) defendants are number one and two
\ncitizens of the legislature. It is shameful we are denting our democracy
\nthis way. We are ready for trial even today, so we urge your lordship to
\ngrant\u200e the fourth defendant bail,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Ikechukwu Ezechukwu, counsel to Maikasuwa, and Mahmud Magagi, counsel to
\nEfeturi also prayed the court to grant their clients bail.<\/p>\n
But the federal government, opposed the bail applications of Ekweremadu,
\nMaikasuwa and Efeturi while urging the court to grant bail to only Saraki
\nto avoid a vacuum in the senate.<\/p>\n
The judge, who noted that the accused persons had not been proved guilty,
\nhence granted them conditional bail.<\/p>\n
He ordered that the defendants were to provide two reasonable sureties who
\nmust be Nigerians and who must own property in Abuja, the failure of which
\nthey would be remanded in Kuje prison, Abuja.<\/p>\n
\u200eThe judge adjourned to July 11 for trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court, has granted bail to Senate President, Bukola Saraki, his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu and two other accused persons \u2014 Salisu Maikasuwa, former clerk of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n