Thursday, January 11, 2024 – The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted the former Minister of Power and Steel, Olu Agunloye, bail in the sum of N50 million.
The court ordered the remand of Agunloye in Kuje prison
after he was arraigned on seven counts bordering on fraudulent award of a
contract and official corruption.
Agunloye, who served under former President Olusegun
Obasanjo, was remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre after he was arraigned
before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on his
alleged complicity in fraud.
The defendant, who had also served as a Minister of State
for Defence, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The court directed that he should remain in custody, pending
the determination of his bail application.
Counsel for the former Minister, Adeola Adedipe, who moved
his bail application prayed the court to grant the defendant bail by way of
self-recognisance or in liberal terms, adding that Agunloye was not a flight
risk and that the notion canvassed by the prosecution was “born out of
misconception and communication barrier”.
The lawyer further appealed to the court not to order the
use of a public servant as surety for his client.
The senior lawyer also argued that the apprehensive
misconception about bail and the mischief argued by the prosecution has been
cured by Section 352(4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA).
Adeola said that under this provision, “once a defendant is
admitted to bail, even if he absconds, the trial will continue and he will be
convicted where necessary.”
However, the prosecution counsel opposed the bail
application.
The
trial judge, while granting the defendant bail, on Thursday, said that the
pendulum of the court swung in favour of granting him bail.
The judge therefore granted N50 million bail to the
defendant and ordered him to produce two sureties in like sum, stressing that
the sureties must be “reputable” and “people of means” resident within the
Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The court also ordered that the sureties must have
properties worth N300 million with a Certificate of Occupancy that must be
verifiable.
They must submit copies of their identity card and
photocopies of their passports to the court.
The defendant is set to submit his passport to the court and
must be present for the hearing at all times, while the matter was adjourned to
February 12.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is
investigating Agunloye over the $6 billion Mambilla Hydropower Contract.
On December 13, 2023, Agunloye was declared wanted by the
anti-graft agency over alleged fraud.
The commission which posted the wanted declaration on its
official Facebook page had urged Nigerians who knew the whereabouts of Agunloye
to report to the nearest police station or inform the EFCC.
On Wednesday, Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka raised the
alarm that there was a high-level concern for Agunloye’s safety.
The literary icon recalled that Agunloye’s predecessor in
the power ministry, Chief Bola Ige was murdered in Ibadan, the Oyo State
capital on December 23, 2001, and his tragic death had remained a mystery.
According to Soyinka, Ige’s killing was connected to the $6
billion Mambilla power scam for which Agunloye is currently being tried.
In a statement issued on Wednesday titled ‘A Pivotal
Witness, And A Custodial Danger,’ Soyinka said, “Dr. Olu Agunloye, we learn,
was finally charged to court today. The case was adjourned, and the presiding
judge, in his or her wisdom, proceeded to remand the accused in Kuje prison,
pending resumption of his case.
“I wish to alert the nation, and the government that there
exists a justifiable, high level concern for his safety. His predecessor in
office, the late Chief Bola Ige, was murdered in his bedroom by professional
assassin even while his police protection detail took time off, all at the same
time, to a nearby eatery. Till today, those mystery killers have yet to be
identified, arrested, and tried.
“I have made it clear, even as recently as a few weeks ago,
that Bola Ige’s murder was not unconnected with the Manbilla scam. Olu Agunloye
worked closely with me, both within and outside routine police motions, to
unmask Ige’s killers.
“It would therefore amount to unpardonable complacency to
propose that there are no forces sufficiently desperate to accord him the same
fate as Bola Ige. That goal is made easier by the abrupt decision to remand him
in prison.”
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