A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Friday remanded the National Publicity
Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Olisa Metuh, in Kuje
prison.
Metuh , who was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission on a seven –count charge, pleaded not guilty to all the charges
filed against him.
The PDP spokesman’s counsel, Ifedayo Adedipe, filed an oral
application for bail, but the prosecuting counsel opposed the application.
The presiding judge, Abang Obong, ordered that the application be
properly filed so that the EFCC can respond before it would be entertained.
Obong
directed that Metuh be transferred to the prison from EFCC custody...
(more pix after the cut)
As a general rule, an individual accused of a crime
must be held in the custody of the court (or EFCC as in Metuh’s case) until his
or her guilt or innocence is determined. However, the court has the OPTION of
releasing the individual before that determination is made and this option is
called bail.
Bail is a CONDITIONAL right guaranteed by Section
35 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To
grant bail is to set at liberty a person arrested, charged to court or
imprisoned on security being taken for his appearance on a day and place
certain for his trial. When bail is granted a suspect, an accused or convicted
person, he is granted temporary release from custody pending the conclusion of
investigation, the determination of the case against him, or determination of
his appeal against conviction.
Metuh wants bail. He deserves it. The seven counts charge of money
laundering involving N400m, which the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
alleged that he collected from the Office of the National Security Adviser in
November 2014 has not yet been proven.
TimelessTinz opinion:
My concern is with thousands of innocent Nigerians
who are languishing in jail some for upwards of 10 years without trial, without
bail. Some have never walked into the court room prior to their journey to
detention.
In 2008, 21 year old Mr. Ewuga was marched into the
Maximum Security Prison over an alleged robbery offence. He had been in
detention since a year earlier at the Ikoyi Prisons before his relocation.Mr.
Ewuga said he was waiting to board a bus, at about 7.30p.m., from Lekki to
Jakande when a patrol van, consisting of mostly plain clothed police men,
swooped in on him.
“They asked what am I doing there. I showed them my
ID card. I was a student of Famous Comprehensive Secondary School, at the same
time a barber,” said Mr. Ewuga, who was then in his final year in school.
“They said I should enter motor, that I’m a
criminal, a part of the people that used to rob in that area. I had to obey
them,” the 24 year old added. The next stop was Kirikiri prison. No trial.
Moses Igige, who hawked sausage rolls in traffic at
Obalende, shared a similar story. Mr. Igige, 28, said that after the police
arrested him, he was asked to buy his freedom for N25, 000. “After I took him
to where I was selling… I told them I don’t him I don’t have any money, so he
took me to court,” Mr. Igige said. His next stop was Kirikiri prison. No trial.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
These individuals are Nigerians. Their offense or accusation is not even as weighty
as Olisah Metuhs’. Every Nigerian is equal before the law. No double standards.
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