Court Reserves Ruling In Ojukaye’s Bail

The fate of the embattled former Chairman of Asari-Toru Local Government of Rivers State, Mr. Ojukaye Flagg-Amachree, standing trial on an alleged murder case on two different charges before two judges of the State High Courts now hanges in the balance, as the Appeal Court sitting in Port Harcourt, yesterday, consolidated all the applications seeking for his bail and release from prison custody.
The Appeal Court led by Justice Ali Abubakar B. Gumel, also reserved ruling on the consolidated appeals brought before the court, and fixed a date for the ruling which would be communicated to all the parties in the matter.
The Court of Appeal took this decision after listening to the various arguments by the counsels in the matter, and commended them for the maturity exhibited during the court proceedings.
The appellant, Mr. Ojukaye Flagg-Amaechree, had through his Counsels, led by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Rowland Oturu, filed a motion of appeal before the court challenging his incarceration in prison custody on the orders of Justice Margret Opara on the 19th of April, this year.
The appellant is also appealing the order of remand into prison custody made on the July 1, 2016 by the Chief Judge of the State, Justice I.A. Iyayi-Lamikanra, as well as seeking an order of stay of proceedings on the matter by the lower courts until the determination of the matter in the Appeal Court.
Oturu, during his presentation, told the court that the matter before it touches on the liberty of the accused, adding that the court has an unfettered authority to grant the accused bail.
He told the court that it was wrong for the lower courts to continue proceedings on the matter when an appeal had already been filed in the appellante court.
The Senior Advocate averred that it was wrong for a judge to remand an accused person by proxy, and urged the court to declare the Chief Judge’s remand order of July 1, 2016 as a nullity as it was not known in law.
Responding to the applications by the appellant’s Counsel, lawyer to the state government, Mr. Godwin Obla (SAN) while opposing the bail applications, said the refusal of the appellant to appeal the order of July 4, 2016 nullified the whole appeal sought by them.
According to Obla, “what it means is that the appellant did not appeal the second order made by the State Chief Judge.
“My position on the matter, is that you don’t take chances. They would have also appealed the other order, because if the appeal fails, all the briefs sought in the applications would also fail”, he added.
The Senior Advocate urged the court to jettison the application on the ground that they failed to appeal the order of July 4, 2016, adding that it was only when the accused appeared before the judge that the issue of Appeal notice would be discussed.
Our correspondent reports that the 3-man Justices of the Appeal Court had earlier stood down the proceedings for 30 minutes to rule on the stay of proceedings brought by the appellant asking to be joined in the application to be taken alongside the consolidated appeals.
Our correspondent further reports that the court later ruled in favour of the appellant.
All the Counsels adopted their addresses as filed during the proceedings.
Speaking to journalists outside the court room, Mr. Rowland Oturu (SAN), lawyer to the accused, said his refusal to appeal the order of Justice I.A. Iyayi-Laminkanra was on the basis that the order was made against the prison authorities and not his client.