No Post Conviction Bail For Kalu, Court Rules

Justice Muhammed Liman of a Federal High Court, Lagos, Monday, dismissed post conviction bail application, filed by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, for lacking in merit.
Justice Liman dismissed Kalu’s application, after ruled against all four issued raised for determination by the convicted former governor of Abia State.
Kalu alongside his company, Slok Nigeria Limited and his former Director of Finance, Udeh Jones Udeogu, were respectively convicted and sentenced to 12 and 10 years imprisonment by Justice Mohammed Idris.
By sentencing the company, Justice Idris, now sitting at Appeal Court, ordered that the company be wound up and forfeited to the Federal  Government of Nigeria.
Justice Idris gave the judgement after finding Kalu, his company and his former aide guilty of 28 counts charge of money laundering preferred against them by the federal government of Nigeria, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
They were convicted on December 5 and sentenced to jail terms for laundering and fraud of a N7.6 billion.
Kalu representing Abia North Senatorial District, in an application filed by his lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, sought his release from prison pending the outcome of his appeal at the Court of Appeal.
Kalu has listed ill-health, being representative of his senatorial district, the likelihood that appeal may delay and being of good conduct as ground for his appeal.
Kalu’s lawyer, Fagbemi, (SAN), bail application is premised on 23 grounds and supported by a 38-paragraph affidavit.
He added that after receiving the counter-affidavit filed by the prosecution, he filed a 34-paragraph further affidavit with one exhibit attached.
Mr Fagbemi had also drew the court’s attention to a notice of appeal against Mr Kalu’s conviction and relied on the provisions of Sections 241 of the Constitution in urging the court to grant the bail.
“If there is a right of appeal, then there is a corresponding right of bail pending appeal,” he said.
Citing Sections 6 of the Constitution, Mr Fagbemi argued that the court had the powers to entertain such an application since post-judgement jurisdiction were anchored on the section.
He said the bail would enable Mr Kalu to attend to his health as well return to the National Assembly to carry out service to the nation.
However, EFCC counsel, Rotimi Jacobs, opposed the bail application.
“Although bail is generally a right of an accused as guaranteed by the Constitution, it is not a right available to a convict because the presumption of innocence had crystallised into guilt and conviction,” said Mr Jacobs, a senior advocate of Nigeria.
According to Mr Jacobs, an application for bail pending appeal is sparingly granted.
He said such a bail could be granted in a situation where the term of imprisonment would have elapsed before determination of the appeal.
He argued that that was not the situation with Mr Kalu’s case.
On Mr Kalu’s health condition, Mr Jacobs  had said there was no recent medical report to show his state of health, arguing that the medical report tendered in his case was done more than a year ago.
Mr Jacobs added that the request by Mr Kalu to be released on bail so as to seek traditional medicine was not tenable, as visitors were allowed into the custodial centre.
“He said he needs his herbalist to treat him but he has not said that his herbalist came to the prison and was not allowed to see him.
“In one breath, the applicant is saying that he wants to be released on health grounds while in another breath, he is saying that as a senator, he needs to be released on bail so as to carry out his official functions,” he said.
Citing the case of the Federal Republic of Nigeria vs Joshua Dariye, he argued that the Nigerian criminal jurisprudence was robust enough to handle an appeal and dispense with same within a reasonable time.
Besides, he argued that the medical facilities at the Ikoyi Custodial Centre were capable of handling Mr Kalu’s medical condition.
Delivering judgement on the application today, Justice Liman after critically analyzed all the arguments canvassed by the parties and cited plethoras of authorities, said: “the applicant has not furnished the court with enough health challenges to grant the application”.
Justice Liman also stated that the people of the constituency that the convict is representing ought to have know that their representative was facing a criminal charge before elected him to represent them and that the convict’s argument that his representation will be missed is discountenanced.
The judge also discountenanced the convicted senator’s argument that the hearing and determination of his appeal may not be quick and being of good character.
In all, Justice Liman said: “having ruled against the applicant on all grounds, I found nothing in this application to determined in favour of the applicant and it is hereby dismissed”.
In the same vain, Justice Liman had fixed January 17, 2020, for ruling in the same application filed by the second convict, Udeh Jones Udeogu.
Justice Liman fixed the date after taking arguments from Mr. S. A. Elena (SAN) Udeh’s counsel and Nr. A. Adeniyi, lawyer to the EFCC.
In urging the court to grant his application, Udeh had told the court that he is a tuberculosis patient, which he said if kept with other convicts, they may be affected.
Annexed to his application, was a medical report dated December 12, 2019, emanated from Abia State General Hospital.
In opposing the application, EFCC lawyer, urged the court to discountenance the application on the ground that the medical report was procured after the convict had been jailed.
He told the court that the report was obtained for the purpose of the application before that court, as the convict never show any sign of being a tuberculosis patient during the pendency of the charge and before they were convicted.
He therefore urged the court to give the same judgement as he did in the case of Kalu.