NaijaWire

Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-bello released on N10 million bail, resumed immediately in the Senate

Abuja - 48 hours after she was sent to Maitama Police station, Abuja for detention, Justice Salisu Garba of the Abuja High Court yesterday admitted Senator Iyabo to bail in the sum of N10 million, the same amount the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC ) is prosecuting her for her involvement in the Health Ministry scam.

The senator who beamed with smile after the court pronounced her temporary freedom, went on to attend the senate session and used the opportunity to than her colleagues, promising to be of good behavior henceforth. According to her, “I want to assure you that I have not done anything to bring down the honor and dignity of this hallowed chamber and I will not do anything that will bring down the image of this Senate. I will always live up to your expectations.”

She had come under Order 43 on personal explanation to address the Senate on her issue with the EFCC.

Senator Iyabo, who is being accused on a two-count charge over her involvement in the N300 million unspent budget of the Federal Ministry of Health allegedly shared by its principal officers and now a subject matter of criminal litigation. She has already pleaded not guilty to the charge.

In admitting the senator to bail, the court ordered that she must not be allowed home until she had provided a prominent Nigerian as surety and deposited all her passport with the registrar of the court.

Even while on bail, the judge ordered her to report to the Office of the Director of Operations every Monday until judgment in the case.

Time was 11: 48 a.m yesterday when she stepped out of the dock into the embrace of some of her supporters who had thronged the courtroom to listen to the court’s ruling on her bail application.

Her counsel, Mr B J Akomolafe, and EFCC’s lawyer, Mr James Binang, who had earlier thanked the judge for the ruling greeted each other before they each found their way out of the crowded courtroom.

Senator Obasanjo-Bello who wore a ponytail hair style and was dressed in a multi-colour skirt and blouse made of adire would not also wait for the court to be decongested before she made for the main entrance of the court which she avoided last Monday when she was ordered detained in police cell.

Unlike Monday too, she was not avoiding the lens of photo-journalists’ cameras yesterday. She in fact, was looking up to catch shots while shaking hands with familiar faces in the courtroom as she moved towards the office of the court registrar to perfect the bail conditions.

Outside the courtroom, a few minutes after the bail was granted, her supporters and sympathizers went into wild jubilations, singing and dancing.

Occasionally, some of them would use their cell-phones to communicate the outcome of the proceedings to their friends in and outside Abuja who could not attend the court.

It was at the climax of their jubilation that the lead counsel to EFCC, Mr Binang, came down from the second floor of the high court where the senator was standing trial to the ground floor. He was aided out by some policemen and men of the commission perhaps against attack. But no one harassed him as he made his way through them to where his car was parked.

Her voluntary appearance in court last Monday without bench warrant and her decision, during investigation, to honor EFCC’s invitations, worked in her favour yesterday.

According to the judge, “from the arguments of learned counsel, it is not in dispute that the offenses against the accused person are bailable.

“By the provisions of section 341 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, granting bail to the accused person is at the discretion of the court. And the accused is ready to satisfy the conditions in section 341 (2) of the CPC in that she had promised that she won’t jump bail, interfere with investigations (if any), or commit any other offence.

Besides, the prosecution said that it is not opposing the bail application. Again, the accused voluntarily brought herself to court. It is a settled law that if an accused person voluntarily brings himself to court, he will be granted bail when sought.

In the circumstance of this case, I am of the view that this court should exercise its discretion in favor of the accused person. She is, therefore, granted bail in the sum of N10 million with one surety who must be a prominent citizen of this country,” the judge said

Source: The Vanguard