Emeka Odogwu
After 175 days in jail, a Federal High court sitting in Calabar and presided over by Justice Sule Shuaibu has granted bail to publisher of CrossRiverWatch and rights activist, Agba Jalingo.
This was after Justice Simon Amobeda had denied him bail on October 4th and 30th, 2019.
The bail comes 175 days after his arrest on August 22, 2019 a few days to a rescheduled police interview which was at the instance of a petition bordering on an article he wrote in July asking the Cross River State government account for the N500 million approved and released for the floating of the Cross River Microfinance bank.
In his ruling today, Justice Shuaibu set the bail bond at N10 million with one surety in like sum.
The surety, he said must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court and his address must be physically verified.
In addition, the surety is expected to deposit N700,000 cash with the registrar of the court who will then pay it into an interest yielding account with a commercial bank while Jalingo must seek the permission of court to travel out of the country if he wants to travel.
Jalingo, the judge said is also expected to depose to an oath that he will be available in court while he and his surety must present two passport photographs.
And, Justice Shuaibu ordered that the proceedings of the court on the matter shall not be a matter of public discourse.
He subsequently adjourned the matter to the 6th, 7th and 8th days of April 2020 for the prosecution to open and close its case while other motions may be treated before that day.
The Cross River State government had last week taken over prosecution of the case.
The trial has thus far drawn local and international attention with several individuals and organisations demanding his unconditional release.
Amnesty International had in a recent press conference in Calabar described the trial as a “sham” which fell short of regional and international standards especially after Justice Amobeda had ordered that the trial be held in secret and witnesses, masked while testifying against Jalingo.
