A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted bail to three out of 15 suspects who allegedly invaded the residence of Justice Mary Odili, Judge of the Supreme Court.
Recall that security operatives had on Friday, October 29, 2021, invaded the Abuja residence of the Judge of the apex court.
Following the public criticism of the invasion, the Nigeria Police said it arrested a group of 15 persons, including a journalist, who allegedly posed as security personnel and raided the home of the Supreme Court Justice.
However, during the trial of the suspects on Monday, Justice Nkeonye Maha granted them N5 million bail each, following an application separately filed by their counsel.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Justice Maha had, on December 15, 2021, refused to grant bail to an assistant superintendent of police, Mohammed Yahaya; Abdullahi Adamu; and Abdullahi Usman, because no bail application was filed before the court on their behalf.
The judge also ordered that the three defendants be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre until the next hearing was fixed for trial commencement.
All 15 defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty to 18 charges, including forgery, criminal trespass, intimidation, among others.
Delivering the ruling, Justice Maha ordered that the defendants produce two sureties each.
The judge also directed that the two sureties for each defendant must be responsible citizens. One of them must possess a landed property in Abuja with a verified certificate of occupancy, ordering that the landed property documents should be submitted to the court’s registry.
Maha also ruled that the second surety must be gainfully employed in Abuja, having paid their tax dues for three years.
She ordered that the defendants submit their passports to the registry while directing all the defendants to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre pending the perfection of their bail terms.
The judge noted that though the prosecution did not oppose the applications, this did not preclude the court from looking at the merit of the matter based on the Supreme Court decision, maintaining that the court also had the discretion to grant the bail.
