The Court of Appeal in Abuja yesterday rejected application filed by a suspended deputy commissioner of police, Mr. Abba Kyari, seeking the reversal of the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja which refused to grant his request for bail.
Recall that Kyari, who is a former head of the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, is being prosecuted by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for alleged drug trafficking.
He and four members of the IRT – ACP Sunday J. Ubua, ASP Bawa James, Inspector Simon Agirgba and Inspector John Nuhu were charged before a Federal High Court in Abuja with conspiracy to deal in 17.55kg of cocaine.
They were also charged with dealing in cocaine without lawful authority; conspiracy to tamper with cocaine and unlawfully tampering with the 21.35kg of cocaine seized from two convicted drug dealers.
The four men were arraigned in 2022 before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja.
Although they pleaded not guilty to the charges however, the court refused to grant their bail application on the grounds that they might tamper with evidence.
Dissatisfied, Kyari approached the Appeal Court seeking for an order to reverse the ruling of the Federal High Court which declined to admit him to bail.
Justice Stephen Adah who read the unanimous judgement of a three-man panel of the Appeal Court, held that Kyari’s appeal lacked merit.
He contended that given the nature of the charges pending against Kyari and others before the trial court, such request for bail needed to be handled with caution.
He held that Nwite, who earlier rejected bail to Kyari, appropriately exercised his discretion in refusing to grant the bail.
xssssssssssssssssssss
INEC promises speedy declaration of results insists on BVAS, No PVC, No Voting rule
As Nigerians troop out to elect the president and national assembly lawmakers today, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has assured that election results will e announced without further ado.
The chairman of the commission, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, made the promise at a media briefing in Abuja yesterday.
“I just want to say that we will ensure that it (result declaration) will be done speedily.
“I can’t put a finger on the number of days or number of hours it will take, but it will be done speedily.
“We are aware of the anxiety and the need for us to conclude the process quickly. It will be concluded quickly,” he said.
The chairman also assured that the process will not suffer any encumbrance due to the recent cash crisis triggered by the recent naira swap policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“It is not all our operations that are paid for by cash.
“In fact, the bulk of our procurement for both goods and services is done electronically.
“But we need a small amount of money to pay for the unbanked who render critical services, particularly at the local level.
“We anticipated this challenge and interacted with the Central Bank; they promised us that the little amount we need to pay for services in cash, they will make the funds available to us and they have done so.
“And these funds have already been accessed by our state offices for elections, which is why the movement of personnel and materials in the last couple of days has gone on unhindered.
“So, I must give credit for our relationship with the Central Bank in that regard.
“The process won’t suffer any encumbrance as a result,” he added.
Yakubu also reiterated the commission’s stance on the use of the bimodal voter accreditation system (BVAS) in the elections and insisted on the ‘No PVC, No Voting’ rule.
He also said he ban on the use of mobile phones in voting cubicles was still in place.
