Ike Ekweremadu, a former Deputy Senate President, has now again been denied bail by the Central Criminal Court in London, often known as the Old Bailey, on the grounds that he poses a flight risk.
According to information obtained by PulseNets, the court highlighted the letter and the Senator’s asset seizure proceedings by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, or EFCC.
Tuesday’s pre-trial hearing in London ended with the court’s decision.
Ekweremadu’s counsel claimed in the bail application that the Attorney-General of the Federal Government and the Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom had assured the court in writing that Ekweremadu was not a flight risk and promised to surrender him if he did otherwise.
They also reminded the court that Ekweremadu had been offered the opportunity to have an electronic tag placed on him so that his movements could be tracked by the Nigeria High Commission in the UK.
Using additional character references from other reputable Nigerians and organisations, his participation in other international programmes that promote humanity, and the fact that Ekweremadu “is a highly regarded, well known public figure,” his defence also contended that the lawmaker had demonstrated himself to be a loving and responsible father and could therefore not have fled to London while abandoning his wife and sick daughter.
The defence also informed the court that they had eleven persons pledge sureties and securities totaling around 500,000 pounds sterling to ensure Ekweremadu’s release on bail.
However, just as during the July 2022 bail application hearing, the prosecution insisted that Ekweremadu was a flight risk, citing the letter from the EFCC dated July 18, 2022, which was signed by the Assistant Director of Operations, Abdulkarim Chukkoi on behalf of the Executive Chairman, Abdulraheed Bawa.
The current asset forfeiture proceedings at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the former three-term Deputy Senate President were also mentioned by the prosecution.
Although the EFCC had been looking into Ekweremadu for a long time without bringing the lawmaker to court, the anti-graft agency had indicted Ekweremadu upon his arrest and a 17th July 2022 investigation by the London Metropolitan Police, and they promised to start assets forfeiture proceedings and criminal processes against him right away while he was being held in London.
The prosecution further claimed that because the legislator held passports from two other nations, he or she might leave Nigeria and enter any of the other nations.
After hearing from both parties, the judge stated: “I am entirely satisfied there remains a flight risk,” adding that “as the trial is just over a month away,” so bail would not make much of a difference.
As a result, he declared that “this bail application is refused.”
The Ekweremadus trial will now start on January 31, 2023.
Recall that the court shifted the trial from May to January during an earlier hearing in November.
The Tuesday proceedings, in contrast, seem to have supported the assertion made by Ekweremadu’s attorney, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN), before the Federal High Court of Abuja that the EFCC terminated Ekweremadu’s bail plea in July.
Awomolu further said that by suppressing crucial material from Justice Inyang Ekpo, the EFCC dishonestly obtained an interim assets forfeiture judgement against the legislator.
Awomolu claimed that the EFCC had concealed the fact that the lawmaker was being held in London and was therefore unable to defend himself, and that despite the fact that the EFCC had been looking into Ekweremadu for well over a decade, it only felt it was appropriate to indict and take action against him once he was being tried in London for his problems.
The anti-graft agency has been accused of involvement in Ekweremadu’s difficulties in London by various groups, including the youth wing of the leading Igbo sociocultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, and the civil rights advocacy group, the Human Rights Writers Association, HURIWA.
Young members of Ohanaeze have accused the EFCC of using a double standard, persecuting them, and stealing the assets of people and companies in the South in a statement released by its National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuihe.
HURIWA asserted that the EFCC’s letter and assets forfeiture lawsuit against Ekweremadu “at a time he was in custody, facing trial in the United Kingdom, and unable to defend himself or properly brief his lawyers was malicious, immoral, in bad faith, and tantamount to a country throwing her citizen under the bus”. and faulted both timing and motivation.
The EFCC, via its attorney, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), had refuted the accusations, claiming it was only a coincidence because there was no set period of time by law for the EFCC to begin criminal or forfeiture procedures against a suspect.
The opposition leader Ekweremadu is engaged in ongoing conflict with the governing party.
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