Alex Enumah in Abuja
Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja wednesday rejected a fresh application by the Chairman of the defunct Pension Reform Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, for the review of the bail conditions imposed on him in his ongoing trial for money laundering.
The judge, in his ruling, dismissed the application, which sought the second review of the bail conditions since November 26, 2019, when Maina was first granted the bail.
Maina has remained in prison custody since November due to his inability to meet the conditions imposed by the court.
Following an earlier application for the review of the bail conditions, Justice Abang reduced, among others, the bail sum from N1 billion to N500million.
The judge, who earlier demanded two serving senators as sureties for the bail granted Maina, also reviewed it to one senator.
But Maina later filed a fresh application for a further review of the conditions that required him to produce a serving senator as surety.
Ruling on the application yesterday, Justice Abang dismissed it for lacking in merit.
“The first defendant failed to place materials before the court with, convincing reasons, to show that there exist exceptional circumstances to warrant the variation of the conditions of the bail earlier varied,” the judge ruled.
The judge, in the earlier review, had asked Maina to provide only one serving senator with property worth N500 million in either Asokoro, Maitama, Wuse II, Central Business District or Katampe, Abuja.
The judge also directed that the senator, who must provide the Certificate of Occupancy for the property, must not have pending criminal charges against him or her in any court in Nigeria.
He added that such a senator must accompany the defendant to all the proceedings of his trial.
The senator will also have to sign a register to be counter-signed by the registrar of the court before the commencement of proceedings.
According to the judge, only after the completion of the formality on every day of the proceedings can the senator leave the court.
