A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted bail to the 12 detained aides of Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho.
The bail order was granted them by Justice Obiora Egwuatu on Wednesday while delivering his ruling on the bail application before the court.
The judge stated that it was clear that no charge had been preferred against the applicants who have been in custody since July 1 when they were arrested and detained by the Department of State Services.
He also said, “By the extant laws of the land, the applicants are presumed to be innocent until proven otherwise.”
He, therefore, granted bail to all the 12 detained aides on varying terms.
Justice Egwuatu granted bail to eight of the detained aides on the terms of N5m with one surety each.
He also ruled that the sureties must be property owners, residents in Abuja and must show evidence of three years of tax payment.
The eight aides are Abdullateef Onaolapo, Tajudeen Irinloye, Dikeola Ademola, Ayobami Donald, Uthman Adelabu, Olakunle Oluwapelumi, Raji Kazeem, and Taiwo Tajudeen.
The bail terms of the remaining four are N10m with two sureties each.
The court ruled that one of the sureties must be a Federal Government employee of not less than grade level 12.
The four aides are Amudat Babatunde, Abideen Shittu, Jamiu Oyetunji, and Bamidele Sunday.
Justice Egwuatu admitted them to bail after hearing the submissions of the lawyers on both sides.
The lawyer to the detained aides, Pelumi Olajengbesi, had prayed the court to admit them to bail unconditionally.
The DSS lawyer, Idowu Awo, told the court that he was not opposing the bail of eight of the applicants as their investigations revealed that the levels of their involvement in the offence of arms stockpiling and other criminal activities were minimal.
The DSS lawyer argued that the four aides should not be granted bail in the interest of justice and national security.
He also stated that their investigation was currently ongoing and had not been concluded, arguing that the DSS had a strong conviction that the four applicants, if released, would jeopardise the ongoing investigation.
“The fear of the respondent is that if granted bail, they will not make themselves available for further investigation and possible prosecution,” Awo argued.
Olajengbesi, however, prayed the court to discountenance the argument of the DSS as it was unknown to Nigerian law.
Olajengbesi stated that the Igboho aides had been detained by the DSS for 34 days and had yet to be charged to court for any offence.
He argued that their continued detention violated the provisions of the constitution and was an infringement on their fundamental human right.
