*Court grants
him N5m bail
The Federal
Government has arraigned Senator Hamma Misau before a High Court of the Federal
Capital Territory (FCT), Maitama, Abuja, on a five-co
unt charge bothering on
alleged injurious falsehood against the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim
Idris; Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF).
The
defendant pleaded not guilty to the five-count.
The trial
judge, Justice Ishaq Bello, however, admitted the senator to bail in the sum of
N5 million with two sureties in like sum.
Counsel to
Misau, Godwin Obla (SAN), however, made an oral application, praying the court
to admit his client to bail on self-recognisance.
The counsel
afterwards moved an oral application for his bail on the grounds that Section
393 (1) of the Penal Code under which the defendant was charged carried maximum
of two years punishment upon conviction. Besides that, he said section 163 of
the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, expressly makes
provision for bail of the defendant.
Obla also
said that by virtue of Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution, his client is
presumed innocent and that being a serving senator, he could not run away. He
further told the court that the defendant would not tamper with police
investigation since it was completed and that the defendant could not also
influence the prosecution witnesses who are said to be serving police officers.
Meanwhile,
the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation (DPPF), Salihu Bakun, who
led the prosecution, objected to the oral application, insisting that such bail
application must be in writing.
Bakun’s
argument was rejected by the presiding judge on the ground that oral
application is also allowed before the law.
The DPPF,
however, did not object to the bail, leaving it to the discretion of the court.
Justice
Bello, in his ruling, said that Obla though applied for bail in
self-recognisance for the defendant being a serving senator representing Bauchi
Central in the Senate, he would want sureties for the defendant.
He,
therefore, fixed the trial date for November 28 and 29, 2017.
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