Eze Ndigbo
Lagos court denies Eze Ndigbo bail. Justice Yetunde Adesanya of the Lagos State High Court, sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, denied the bail motion of Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Frederick Nwajagu, who is facing terrorist charges.
Based on the gravity of the offense and the harshness of the sentence, the vacation judge determined that the court was compelled to deny the bail application.
Nwajagu is on trial on a nine-count accusation of attempting to conduct terrorist actions, financing terrorism, participating in terrorism, and gathering to support a prohibited entity.
On July 25, 2023, the defendant asked for bail, citing his medical findings and stating that he was not a flight risk.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Friday, the court declined the defendant’s bail application and ordered an accelerated hearing.
Justice Adesanya held, “Based on the seriousness of the offence, the severity of the punishment, and the proof of evidence before the court, the court is constrained to refuse the bail application.
“The application for an accelerated hearing is hereby granted”.
The judge, on the other hand, authorized correctional facility administrators to make arrangements for the defendant to be treated at a government hospital.
She rescheduled the hearing for October 3, 2023.
On the most recent postponed date, the defendant’s counsel, E. C. Obiagu (SAN), asked the court to grant bail to the defendant due to his ill condition.
He further informed the court that the defendant was a widower with six children whom he would not abandon and thus would not flee.
Obiagu contended that because the defendant lacked an international passport, he was not a flight risk.
According to the defense attorney, the defendant was granted bail at the lower court but was unable to perfect the bail due to its onerous conditions.
However, the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Jonathan Ogunsanya, requested the court to deny the defendant’s bail.
He then pleaded with the judge to expedite the hearing.
According to Ogunsanya, the conditions under which the defendant was granted bail at the lower court differed from the information brought against him in the high court.
He maintained that the accusation brought by the police was fundamentally different from the charge brought by the attorney general.
The Lagos State Government had in suit No: LD/21505C/2023 alleged that the defendant’s acts contravened Section 403(2) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
The offenses also violated Sections 12(a)(c), 18, 21, and 29 of the Terrorism (Prevention & Prohibition) Act of 2022, according to the authorities.
Nwajagu was apprehended by Department of State Services operatives for allegedly threatening to summon members of the Indigenous People of Biafra to Lagos to secure Igbo property in the state.