Lawyer detained at Ikpeazu’s behest gets bail after 5 months

 

An Abia State-based lawyer, Emperor Ogbonna, currently in detention with the Department of State Services at the behest of Abia State government, has been granted bail by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Ogbonna has been in detention for the past five months between Umuahia and Abuja on a trumped-up charge of treason against the government of Abia State.

Justice Taiwo Taiwo on Tuesday granted him bail in a ruling on an application argued on his behalf by Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN).

Ozekhome said Ogbonna had been unlawfully detained by the DSS since March 24, 2020.

He urged the court to grant liberal bail to the defendant on liberal terms and conditions, as the applicant’s fundamental rights had been seriously breached.

He urged the court to apply constitutional provisions presuming the applicant innocent until proven otherwise.

The government’s lawyer, Mr Isah Abubakar, opposed the bail on the grounds that the applicant would escape justice in view of the gravity of the alleged offence he was being detained for.

READ: N150 bn stolen Abia money: EFCC seizes ex-gov T. A. Orji, Speaker Chinedum’s passports

However, in a bench ruling, Justice Taiwo agreed with Ozekhome that the law presumed the applicant innocent until found guilty by a competent court.

He also held that the fundamental rights of the applicant to freedom of movement had been breached for more than the period prescribed by law.

The judge, therefore, granted him bail in the sum of N2 million with two sureties in like sum.

Among others, the sureties must provide evidence of tax payment and one of them must have a property in the Federal Capital Territory with verifiable documents.

He however ordered that the applicant be remanded in prison pending the time he would meet the bail conditions.