The EFCC
arraigned Obadina on Friday for allegedly receiving over N2.4bn from a former
National Security Adviser,Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), for electricity contracts
that were never executed.
The
defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to all eight counts.
The
prosecuting counsel, Mr. Peters Aso, urged the court to remand the defendant in
prison custody and order accelerated hearing of the case.
Aso said
that even though bail was at the discretion of the court, the proof of evidence
accompanying the charges
against
Obadina, showed that he was not entitled to bail.
“The defendant
received N2.4bn out of which $2.6m has been taken abroad and his passport is
still in his custody.
“And so,
if granted bail, he is a flight risk because he will jet off to enjoy that
money already abroad,” Aso said.
The
prosecutor said that although they had recovered N70m from the defendant,
rather than cooperate, he was frustrating the investigation.
He urged
the court to discountenance the exhibits attached to the defendant’s bail
application, saying they were public
documents
and only certified true copies would be accepted by the court.
The
defence counsel, Chris Uche (SAN), notified the court that the defendant had
been in EFCC’s custody for over one month even though he had been granted
administrative bail.
Uche
urged the court to grant his client bail, saying that the charge preferred
against him was one in which bail could be granted.
He also
noted that the defendant had demonstrated, through the exhibits he attached to
his affidavit, that he would be available to attend his trial if granted bail.
He
appealed that bail should be granted in liberal terms, adding that the N70m
recovered by the EFCC could be used as bond.
The
judge, Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, said that the court could put in place measures
that would ensure that the defendant was not a flight risk when granted bail.
Dimgba
also said that the court would put in place measures to ensure that he appeared
for his trial.
Dimgba
adjourned ruling on the bail application till July 18 and ordered the remand of
the defendant in Kuje prison
NAN.
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