Rivers Court Grants Two Caverton Pilots, 10 Passengers Bail

A Chief Magistrate Court in Port Harcourt, yesterday, granted bail to Samuel Ugorji and Samuel Buhari, both pilots with Caverton Helicopters, who were accused of contravening the Executive Order of the Rivers State governor issued to check the spread of Coronavirus in the state.
The Magistrate Court also granted bail to 10 passengers of Caverton Helicopters who were flown into Rivers State by the two pilots.
Chief Magistrate D. D. Ihua-Maduenyi granted the two pilots bail after hearing the bail application by their counsel.
Ihua-Maduenyi, in granting the two pilots bail, stated that they must present a surety who must be a management staff of Caverton Helicopters.
The court ruled that the surety must own a landed property in Port Harcourt, and that the surety must ensure that the two pilots attend trial.
He added that the surety would sign a bail bond of N1million each for the two pilots.
Earlier, the court granted a motion abridging the time for the bail application to be filed following a motion moved by Caverton Helicopters, and deemed the bail application as properly filed.
He adjourned the matter to May 19, 2020 for trial.
Lawyer to the Caverton pilots, Nwokedi Ibe, moved a bail application seeking the court to grant the two pilots bail.
His bail application dated April 8, 2020, but filed on April 9, 2020, was supported by a 28-paragraph affidavit.
The Attorney-General of Rivers State, Prof Zaccheus Adangor, who appeared for the state, did not oppose the bail application.
He, however, urged the court to set out bail conditions to ensure that the pilots attend their trial.
The 10 passengers who were granted bail include, Nwogu Chibuna ‘m’ aged 39years; Peter Michael ‘m’ aged 43years; Ajagba Iheanyi ‘m’ aged 35years; Ekperewechi Oguguo ‘m’ aged 43years; Nsikan Pius ‘m’ aged 38years; Abanobi Chinoso ‘m’ aged 27years; Udoh Hagan ‘m’ aged 28years; Okachukwu Chuks ‘m’ aged 41years; Goddy Chukwu ‘m’ aged 42years; Umezurike Chijioke ‘m’ aged 43years.
For the passengers, the court ruled that they should present two sureties who must be management staff of Caverton Helicopters, adding that the sureties sign bail bond of N500,000 for each of the passengers, and also undertake to bring the accused persons trial.
They were arrested at the Air Force Base, Port Harcourt, after the Rivers State Police Command received intelligence on their illegal flight into the state.
Addressing journalists, Counsel to Caverton Helicopters, Nwokedi Ibe said that the basic lesson in the interaction was that there must be mutual respect between the federal and state governments.
He said: “I want to use this medium to say there is need for mutual respect between the Federal Government and State Governments. The defendants have been granted bail. That is the essence of what happened in court.”
Also speaking, Attorney-General of Rivers State, Prof Zaccheus Adangor, said that it must be noted that Rivers State Government was not interested in the persecution of the defendants, hence it did not oppose the bail application.
He said that the state government was only interested in prosecuting the defendants in line with the law, noting that the defendants would be released as soon as they perfect their bail.