RELEASED ON BAIL AFTER 3 YEARS IN PRISON CUSTODY

Freedom though abstract, can only be truly appreciated through the behavior and physical dispositions of people who have been deprived of it for so many years. Same was the case of one Mr. Ajali Chukwu who couldn’t stop crying as he left the walls of Umuahia prisons yesterday August 15, 2012 after 3 years of incarceration awaiting trial.

Following the last report on our blog titled Arrested, Arraigned and Abandoned, Mr. Ajali Chukwu who was arrested and accused of armed robbery on the 25^th day of December, 2009, at Ekoba village along Enugu-Umuahia expressway was granted bail for the third time on Monday 13, August, 2012 with bail conditions as follows: N100,000, affidavit of means, two passport photographs and an identity card. The bail application was moved in a vacation Court in Umuahia High Court 5 before His Lordship Ogechi Okehielem.

The motion was for granting of bail pending the filing, hearing and determination of the information against the applicant. The motion was brought pursuant to several laws that reflect fundamental human rights as it affects the applicant. Counsel for the accused, Barrister Ifeanyi Olukwa in his address stated that keeping the accused in prison custody for 3 years was a gross violation of his fundamental rights and urged the court to grant the accused bail on liberal conditions. In line with the written address of the counsel wherein it was stated that there was no complainant mentioned in the charge sheet and no item was mentioned stolen. The Director for Public Prosecution concurred with the submissions of the learned counsel by not raising an objection to the motion for bail, thereafter the court granted bail on very liberal terms.

It is pertinent to note that through the representatives of ABSU Law Clinic Azubuike Seth and Akabuike Salome, the services of Ifeanyi Olunkwa (Barrister) was secured PRO-BONO for the purpose of securing the bail of the accused person thus; Abia State University Law Clinic is overjoyed for the granting of bail to the accused person . To ensure that applicant has no other set back to enjoy his freedom of movement as provided in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, we are fully devoted to ensure that the applicant is discharged and acquitted.