…adjourns trial till Feb 27, 2025

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday admitted the 109 foreign nationals allegedly involved in cybercrimes to bail in the sum of N1b naira each.

They were granted bail following the application to that effect argued by their Counsel, Dr Ogwu James Onoja.

The trial Judge, Justice Ekerete Akpan ordered that all 109 defendants are to produce five sureties in the sum of N200m each for the five sureties.

The sureties must in addition be residents in Abuja and must each have landed property worth N200M.

They are to also swear to an affidavit of means and submit to the court, original copies of documents of their properties which shall be verified by the Registrar of the court.

Justice Akpan further ordered that the accused persons and their five sureties must submit all their original travelling documents with the court registrar and must not travel out of Nigeria throughout their trial.

The defendants and sureties are to also submit two copies of their recent passport photograph to the court.

Justice Akpan agreed with Onoja SAN that the essence of bail is to allow defendants to prepare for defence and that granting such bail is at the discretion of the court.

The Judge said that he was not unmindful of the fact that the accused persons were foreigners but that the law of the country was presumed innocent until the contrary had been established.

Pending the perfection of the bail conditions, Justice Akpan ordered that the males among the accused persons be remanded at Kuje prison while the female ones are to be kept at Keffi prison in Nasarawa state.

The Inspector General of Police IGP had put the 109 defendants on trial on 6 counts concerning Cybercrimes allegedly committed in Abuja in 2024.

However, the defendants who are mainly Chinese, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand nationals pleaded not guilty to the the charges.

Meanwhile, Justice Akpan has fixed February 27, 2025, for their trial.

The Inspector General of Police was represented at the proceedings by A. S Egwu who earlier objected to the bail of the accused persons through a counter affidavit.

His objection did not stand on the ground that the grant of bail is at the discretion of the court and the nature of charges against the defendants.

In the instant case, Justice Akpan held that the charges against the foreigners are not capital ones and as such billable with conditions.

At the time of this report, all the accused persons have been taken to prison on remand.