GEJ's nephew granted bail after arrest by EFCC
Read the press statement below...
Barrister Azibaola Robert, a nephew of former President Jonathan who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in what was popularly adjudged to be a desperate partisan attempt by the present administration to implicate and persecute the immediate past president of Nigeria has been freed by the court.
A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, on Thursday ordered the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to immediately release Mr. Azibaola Robert, on bail.
Chris
Uche (SAN), held that the applicant’s detention by the EFCC for over
two weeks without being charged to court was unconstitutional.
The
judge further ruled that the bail granted the applicant was to subsist
pending his arraignment by EFCC before any court or the hearing of his
substantive suit.
The terms of Justice Olasunbo Goodluk's,
ruling on Azibaola’s ex-parte application are that the bail should be
guaranteed by two sureties and each of the sureties must be a serving or
retired Director in any of the Federal Government’s ministries or
parastatal resident within Abuja.
The applicant is also required to deposit his passport to the Chief Registrar of this court.
Azibaola
Robert is a prominent entrepreneur from the Niger Delta with vast
business interests in the area of construction and engineering. Two of
his companies, Kakatar and Oneplus Holdings were mentioned among 300
other companies and individuals spread across the country by the
presidential committee probing the contracts issued by the Office of the
National Security Officer during Jonathan’s administration.
Azibaola's
brother, who had earlier expressed fears over his brother's well-being,
maintain that Robert had not breached any laws and his company,
Mangroovtech, which is why now Kakatar CE Limited got all its contracts
through jcompetitive bidding and nothing more
He
then urged the EFCC to respect the laws of Nigeria and grant his
brother immediate bail and release both him and the executive director
of the firm or charge them to court of competent jurisdiction.
He
added that the constitution of Nigeria protects his brother and Mr.
Dakoru Atukpa, an executive director of his company, Oneplus Holdings
from arbitrary arrest and being kept incommunicado for weeks without
being charged to court or granted bail.
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