Obiajulu Uja, an opponent of the President-elect who was onboard an Ibom Air Abuja-Lagos trip last Friday, has been denied bail.
According to reports, a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Magistrate Court dismissed his bail plea on Tuesday.
Senior Magistrate Mohammed Abdulazeez Ismail, sitting in Zuba, Abuja, decided the bail application was premature, according to his counsel.
Ismail ruled that the documents attached to the motion did not state that the defendant was unfit to stand trial, but rather that he was mentally ill.
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He also stated that, while the constitution protects everyone’s liberty, a court might deprive someone of their liberty for health reasons.
The Magistrate ruled that Uja cannot be granted bail, citing Section 35(1)(e) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and Section 278 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
Ismail ruled that when a defendant’s mental capacity is in question, the court has a duty to investigate the defendant’s medical circumstances, noting that the documents attached to Uja’s bail application raised the issue of his medical capacity.
He later denied the bail motion and ordered that Uja be imprisoned at the Nigerian Prisons Service’s Kuje Correctional Facility.
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The head of the center then requested that Uja be sent to a government hospital for mental competence testing.
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