A State High Court sitting in Lagos has denied the bail application of the Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Frederick Nwajagu, who is being prosecuted for alleged terrorism.
The vacation judge, Justice Yetunde Adesanya, ruled that the court was compelled to deny the bail application due to the gravity of the terrorism charges and the harshness of the sentence.
Nwajagu is on trial on a nine-count charge of attempting to conduct terrorist actions, financing terrorism, participating in terrorism, and gathering to support a prohibited entity.
On July 25, 2023, the defendant asked for bail, citing his medical reports and stating that he was not a flight risk.
The court denied the defendant’s bail application and ordered an accelerated hearing at the case’s resumed hearing on Friday.
Nwajagu was apprehended by Department of State Services (DSS) operatives for allegedly threatening to summon members of the Indigenous People of Biafra to Lagos to secure Igbo properties in the state.
Justice Adesanya ruled, “Based on the seriousness of the offense, the severity of the punishment, and the proof of evidence before the court, the court is constrained to refuse the bail application.
“The application for an accelerated hearing is hereby granted”.
On the most recent postponed date, the defendant’s counsel, Mr. E. C. Obiagu (SAN), asked the court to grant bail to the defendant due to his ill condition.
He further informed the court that the defendant was a widower with six children whom he would not abandon and thus would not flee.
Obiagu contended that because the defendant lacked an international passport, he was not a flight risk.
According to the defense attorney, the defendant was granted bail at the lower court but was unable to perfect the bail due to its onerous conditions.
However, in his response, Lagos State’s Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Jonathan Ogunsanya, requested the court deny the defendant’s bail.
He then pleaded with the judge to expedite the hearing.
Among other reasons, Ogunsanya stated that the conditions under which the defendant was granted bail in the lower court differed from the information filed against him in the high court.
The judge, on the other hand, authorized correctional facility administrators to make arrangements for the defendant to be treated at a government hospital.
She rescheduled the hearing for October 3, 2023.
