Justice Maryann Anineh of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT ) High Court, Maitama, Abuja, on Tuesday, December 10, 2024, refused to grant bail to former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Adoza Bello on the ground that his bail application was filed prematurely and intended to preempt the court.
Bello, alongside Umar Shuaibu Oricha and Abdulsalami Hudu are being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a 16-count charge of criminal breach of trust and money laundering to the tune of N110.4 billion.
Delivering ruling on Bello’s bail application, the judge held that the application filed on November 22, 2024, was incompetent as it predated his arrest by the EFCC on November 26 and his arraignment on November 27, clarifying that a bail application only becomes ripe for hearing after the defendant’s arraignment.
“Having been filed when the first defendant was neither in custody nor before the court, this application is premature and hereby refused,” she said. On the other hand, Bello’s co-defendants were admitted to bail. Oricha was granted bail in the sum of N300 million with two sureties in like sum. The sureties, the judge held, must be Nigerian citizens with landed properties within the court’s jurisdiction. The title documents of the lands as well as his passport must be deposited with the court registrar, and he will have to remain in Kuje Correctional Centre until he meets the bail conditions.
Hudu’s bail was on the same financial term. His sureties must own properties in Maitama, Abuja, and must depose affidavits of means, and submit two recent passport photographs, and travel documents to the court. He was barred from traveling outside the country without the instruction of the court and will remain in the custody of Kuje Correctional Centre until he fulfils his bail conditions.
Following the ruling, prosecution counsel Chukwudi Enedini, SAN prayed the court for a trial date. Justice Anineh adjourned the matter till January 29, February 25, and February 27, 2025, and ordered that Bello be remanded in Kuje Correctional Centre.