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Court Grants Dino Melaye Bail

Dino
An FCT High Court sitting in Maitama has granted bail to the senator representing Kogi West senatorial district, Dino Melaye.
The presiding judge, Justice Halilu, granted Melaye bail on Friday on the grounds of ill health, pending when he will be arraigned by the police in a competent court of law.
At an earlier hearing on Thursday, Justice Halilu had ordered the Nigeria Police Force to explain the reason for the continued detention of the senator who according to him had been in their custody since January 4, 2019.
He gave the order after the counsel representing Senator Melaye, Mike Ozekhome (SAN), informed the court that his client had been in custody beyond the number of days stipulated by the law.
In response, the lawyer to the police, Mr Simon Lough, claimed that he was not aware of the order to show cause as he only received the motion on notice on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, and therefore needed five days to respond.
He argued that although Senator Melaye was in police custody, he as the counsel lacked the power to fast track his investigation which is currently on-going preparatory to charging him to court.
Justice Halilu, however, insisted that the police was put on notice to come and show cause why the detained Senator should not be released on bail.
At today’s hearing, he (Justice Halilu) held that the court had the discretion to admit to bail or not and that it was inclined to grant the applicant bail.
Senator Melaye is expected to provide three sureties, two of whom must be owners of landed properties in the FCT and the other must be the clerk of the National Assembly.
The clerk is also expected to write an undertaking that the lawmaker will be produced to stand trial.

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