Court to rule on bail of alleged Boko Haram sponsor August 4

The Federal High Court, Abuja, will on August 4 rule on the bail application of Salami Abdullahi, an alleged Boko Haram set sponsor.

The judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, fixed the date after hearing the submissions of the defence and prosecuting counsel on Wednesday.

Kolawale also fixed October 25 and November 3 for continuation of trial.

Abdullahi, a businessman, who is making this application for the second time, is standing trial for allegedly sponsoring activities of the Boko haram sect,

His counsel, Mr Jubril Okutepa (SAN), said that the law allowed multiple application for bail in the same court and when there were exceptional circumstances.

Okutepa said Section 161 (2b) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) defined exceptional circumstances to include instances were the prosecution exceeded one year.

“It will be recalled that my lord ordered accelerated hearing of this case since 2014 and we are now in 2016. The accelerated hearing ordered by the court has not been followed.

“Besides there is a change in circumstances, the prosecution called seven witnesses and the evidence they have is consistent with the extra-judicial evidence of the second defendant that he knows nothing about Boko haram.

“There is inordinate delay and what if at the end of the day, the defendant is not found guilty, will he be compensated?”

He said he and the other defence lawyers had undertaken, “on their honour ” to produce the defendants in court if granted bail.

The prosecuting counsel, Mrs N.B Jones-Nebo, urged the court to strike out the second bail application, describing it as an abuse of court process.

Jones-Nebo argued that the court had already given a ruling on the application for bail, adding that it’s hands were tied and it could not entertain a second application for bail.

She contended that there was no change in circumstances as the exhibit used to argue the first bail application was the same as the one used to argue the current application.

The prosecutor said there was still a reign of terror in the land, the charge against Abdullahi was a capital offence punishable with the death and not bailable.

She said the argument that if a case was delayed beyond one year the defendants could be admitted to bail, applied only where the prosecution failed to prosecute the defendants.

“The argument that the prosecution has exceeded one year in wrongly construed.

“The delay the ACJA is talking about is where during the one year, the accused are not arraigned and investigation is not ongoing.

“In this case, the trial has been ongoing as we have even called seven witnesses already and the case has never been stalled at the instance of the prosecution.”

Abdullahi,along with Dr Nazeef Yunus, a lecturer with Kogi University and Umar Musa, were arraigned for allegedly recruiting students for terrorist activities.

Their counsel had earlier applied for their bail but it was refused.

Kolawole had held that should the court decide to grant them bail, it would have to impose stringent bail conditions.

The judge said that imposing stringent conditions, which the accused would not be able to fulfil, would be like giving a gift with the righthand and collecting it back with the left.

In a another development, the court adjourned the case of EL Zak Zakky to Sept. 20.

Kolawale said that when he adjourned the case till July 13, he was unaware that the court would begin its annual vacation on July 11.

He said that since this was not a case for the vacation court, it would continue after the court’s vacation.