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| Bail: Ladoja, Others Know Fate September 5 |
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| Wednesday, 03 September 2008 | ||||||
     At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, September 3, in Lagos, counsel to the accused persons made strong case for the admission of the accused persons to bail arguing that the prosecution’s counter affidavit in support of its opposition to bail lacked merit. Mr. Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, Counsel to the second accused, Chief Adewale Atanda whose arguments were adopted by other defence attorneys, averred that the accused persons are eminent and responsible Nigerians who would not escape if admitted to bail. He told the court that the first accused, Chief Ladoja was a former senator of the federal republic of Nigeria and ex-governor of Oyo State, while the second accused, Chief Atanda is a senior member of the bar with over 25 years experience. He described the third accused, Waheed Akanbi as a distinguished banker. He brushed aside arguments by the prosecution that the accused persons would tamper with evidence if admitted to bail with the explanation that the accused persons being former public officers no longer have access to such evidence. Oyetibo also disagreed with the prosecution that the accused persons would interfere with the investigations if granted bail. According to him if the accused persons had the influence being ascribed to them, they would have stopped EFCC from investigating them. And in respect of the second accused, Oyetibo asked the court to grant him bail on medical ground as he suffers from diabetes and has strict diet regimen that he was not able to keep in custody. He said it was in the interest of the EFCC for the accused to be admitted to bail as the agency would want him to be alive to stand trial. Finally, he told the court that all the accused persons had been responding to EFCC summons since October 2007, adding since they did not run away from EFCC, there was no need for them to run away from the court, which is more honourable than EFCC. Lead prosecution counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo in his reply, queried the qualification of the deponents to the affidavit in support of bail application for the accused persons. He pointed out that the deponents being not familiar with the facts of the case were not in position to know for instance that the accused persons would not escape or would not tamper with the investigation. This, he said, makes the deposition not legally admissible. He said that considering the tenuous basis of the main affidavit, there was no need looking at the supporting affidavit as both, in his words, had collapsed like a pack of cards. He agreed with the defence that the accused persons are distinguished persons but was quick to point out that that itself was the tragedy of the case as he could not comprehend how such supposedly eminent citizens could be involved in such monumental sleaze. Keyamo asked the court to discountenance the accused claim that the prosecution did not provide evidence to justify the charge or that the charges were superfluous and repetitive as he read out the charges that linked the suspect to the alleged theft. Finally, he prayed the court not to rely on the evidence of medical record presented by the second accused as such record could easily be obtained by any one. He cited a Supreme Court decision on the admissibility of medical records where the apex court in Abacha vs. the State held that such record can only be relied on when certified by an expert in that field. He urged the court to consider the bail application of the accused persons on individual merit. After listening to the arguments of both sides which lasted for more than four hours, Justice Isiak Mohammed Sanni fixed ruling for September 5. Ladoja and others were first arraigned on August 29.  Quote this article on your site | Views: 178 | Print | E-mail
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