The Special Offences Division of the Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has refused to grant the fresh bail application filed by businessman, Fred Ajudua.
Through his counsel, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), Ajudua had asked Justice Mojisola Dada to admit him to bail pending the determination of his trial.
The counsel also told the court that his client, who was assisted to court by some medical personnel from the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), has a chronic kidney disease.
Ojo urged the court to grant his client bail to enable him to attend to his health challenges, noting that only the living can face trial.
However, counsel to the EFCC, Seidu Atteh, raised objections to the request for bail. Atteh submitted that the defendant was already before the Supreme Court seeking certain reliefs, and he should have directed his application to that court. He urged the trial court to refuse bail.
In his counter arguments, Ojo insisted that his client was not before the Supreme Court to seek bail, and there was no nexus between the application seeking to set aside the May 9 judgment of the Supreme Court and the instant application for bail.
In her ruling on the issue, Justice Dada held that she was inclined to await the outcome of the decision of the Supreme Court and to abide by the same.
The judge said, “In view of the applications filed at the Supreme Court, I am constrained to make any decision with respect to this instant application filed by the defence counsel. I will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court.”