The Federal High Court in Abuja has granted bail to the co-defendants of the missing leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu.
Granting on Monday their fresh bail applications after their re-arraignment on March 20, 2018, Justice Binta Nyako said the applications succeeded on health grounds and considering the number of years they had spent in custody.
The co-accused persons admitted to bail are Bright Chimezie; National Coordinator of IPOB, Mr. Chidiebere Onwudiwe; an IPOB member, Benjamin Madubugwu; and a former Field Maintenance Engineer seconded to the telecommunication company, MTN, David Nwawuisi.
The judge noted that Chimezie had earlier been granted bail by the Federal High Court in Uyo in May 2017 but the Department of State Service, DSS, refused to release him from custody.
She held the view that the defendants had spent an average of three years in custody when the maximum penalty for the offences they were charged it if convicted ranged from five to seven years.
Justice Nyako imposed on the four defendants conditions mostly similar to the ones she attached to bail granted Kanu in April last year.
Among other things, she forbid them from granting any press interview or participating in any form of gathering or rally.
The defendants were also ordered to produce two sureties each for whom the cash sum of N10m should be deposited in the court’s account.
The accused persons were asked to report to the Commissioners of Police in their various states of residence every two weeks.
Chimezie to report to the Commissioner of Police in Rivers State; Onwudiwe and Nwasuisi to the Commissioner of Police in Enugu State while Madubugwu to the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State.
Recall that Justice Nyako had earlier on February 20, 2018, ordered the separation of Kanu’s trial from that of the rest of his co-defendants, as his absence from court continued to slow progress in the case.
The co-defendants are facing three counts of treasonable felony.
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