Expectations from youth’s minister

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

Currently, I am battling to finish with the arduous task of reading some key books I recently bought.

One of such books is the latest copy from Richard Templar who is an award winning author in the Western world.

“The Rules of people” is such a fascinating book from Richard Templar that tells so much about the different attributes of members of the human race. 

An interesting dimension of this easy to dissect book is where the writer factually stated as follows: “Each of us is a unique concoction of our genes, our upbringing, and our experiences. None of these things are things we can change. And together these ingredients make us the extraordinary, unique people we are today”.

The aforementioned evidential affirmation relates exactly to our horizons as Nigerians just as the narratives perfectly lead us to the conversations that this piece has set out to unleash.

It is a fact that Nigerians are a unique type of persons who are enormously gifted in the different fields of human endeavors. 

However, our collective experiences with the species and character of persons who have held different decision and policy making positions in government have shaped a disappointing but graphic picture of a nation in serious need of the crop of leaders that would match words with action. 

We have had too many of our people in top positions at both the national and bi-national levels whose actions whilst in offices have fundamentally departed from the words they uttered to the hearing of all of us.

But it is not exactly in our gene to always be cursed with a set of leaders that would not be bothered doing exactly what they say they will do in the delivery of the mandates of their respective offices.

A couple of days back, President Muhammadu Buhari picked about 43 Nigerians as ministers to form the executive council of the federation. 

The list has eventually turned out as a unique concoction of the good, the bad and the ugly. It is a mixed bag. 

Some persons who have secured top positions as ministers are known to be persons of questionable characters who have skeletons in their cupboards. 

Sadly, there seems to be a total absence of forensic and background checks to make sure that those who are holding these high positions are men and women who have stood the test of time in their previous jobs. Political calculations outweighed the desire for merit, competences and professionalism which ought to have determined those to be made ministers. 

Some of these ministers are known suspects of different fraudulent schemes and some have indeed faced detention by the anti-graft agencies. 

But they are sitting pretty tight as cabinet level ministers. 

So I ask, is it in our gene to reward criminality?

The response to the above poser is the topic for another write up. 

Suffice it to state that our focus today is on what the new sports and youth minister Mr. Sunday Dare ought to do so as to meet up with the expectations of millions of Nigerians who are waiting to see whether it would be just business-as-usual as it were in the last four years which was the first term of the current president who has been returned by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for a second and final four year tenure. The last four years saw a minister of Youths and Sports that appeared delusional and completely bereft of what constitute quality service delivery. Right now the person on board on paper, looks like somebody who may have something positive to offer.  

Incidentally, Mr. Sunday Dare is a new wine in a new jug or to put it differently, he is one of those in the current federal cabinet that can be said not to have any known skeletons in his cupboard. To the question if he is a square peg in a square hole, we need to watch out to see how he unfolds his programmes for remaking the Sports and youth sector to regain the pride of place and to project our youngsters as creative and talented members of the human race in an increasingly sophisticated and competitive World. 

Sunday Akin Dare who is 53 is a journalist of Oyo state origin and who is a well-known political son of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Mr. Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As governor of Lagos state Mr. Tinubu who groomed Sunday Dare is known to have developed sports to some appreciable levels.  Understandably, this minister of Youths development and Sports started his job on high notes. He has begun by making some significant oral commitments. 

“I am excited to be here today. I thank the president, Muhammadu Buhari for appointing me minister of youths and sports development of our country. The work starts now, so let’s work together as a team”, he charged his staff.

“Youth development is key to the success of any government. We have youths, we have sports. Our mandate area is very clear. We must broaden our horizons, we must deepen the work we do and quality of work we bring to the table”.

"I am not unaware of the challenges, controversies and development in this ministry. It’s a ministry that is dear to the hearts of Nigerians. Beyond sports, there are other ways we can develop the youths. We will be thinking outside the box”, he stressed. 

Mr. Sunday Dare also promised to in his words, take sports out of the back pages of newspapers to front pages with positive news.

The brief statements by the newly sworn in youths and sports minister seem to capture the summation of the thematic mandates of the ministry which are as follows: ·        To empower Nigerian youth to become self-reliant and socially responsible; ·        To provide a sustainable framework for integrated planning and collaboration among stakeholders for the development of policies and programmes, laws and other initiatives that promote and enhance the development of the Nigerian youth and the protection of their interests; ·        To establish a technically efficient institution, equipped with the desired professional manpower, resources, right equipment and well maintained facilities for sports development and participation, and; ·        To develop the sports sector to a world class level where it would provide continuous improvement of quality of life for the entire citizenry to the extent that Nigeria would be recognized as a leading sporting country in the world.

The minister therefore needs to aggressively pursue these goals and in doing so he needs to carry his team in the ministry along and must eschew bitter rivalries, animosities, sycophancy and lack of accountability. He has understandably pledged to partner constructively with the media which ironically is his professional terrain. 

For most Nigerians, the key to success as a minister is elimination of nepotism, corruption, lack of accountability and the operation of the ministry in an opaque fashion. He should be ready to answer questions from Nigerians. He must open up the books for critical scrutiny and be ready to defend his investments in the areas of Youths development and Sports and the people must feel the practical impacts of his duties. 

I must say that first and foremost, the minister of youths development and sports should hit the ground running by reviving the pursuit and discovery of local sports talents through the restoration of a place of glory for school sports in all parts of Nigeria. He should put on board a transparent reward system for excellence and merit to be recorded by the Sporting youngsters in the varies fields of Sports. 

There is the urgency of the now for Mr. Sunday Dare to partner constructively with the ministries of youths and sports in all states of Nigeria and Abuja so there is a national momentum that should drive the re-introduction of series of sporting competitions at the grass roots, zonal and national levels. 

The state legislatures must be told to prioritize sports and youths development even as those who should be involved in the governance of all facets, aspects and segments of sports must be those who are passionate and professionally committed to deliver excellent services for the growth and advancements of local sports which will inevitably manifests in the emergence of national and international sporting talents. 

The minister needs to explore the developments of both field and track sports just as there is the need for the private sector to be actively involved in the running of ports because basically, all around the world, sports have become multibillion dollars business.

The minister should work out the transparent strategy for instilling discipline and sanity in the running of all the agencies and bodies that coordinate the organization of sports in all its ramifications even as there is the need to eliminate the problem of match fixing and poor refereeing which are threatening the future of football at the local levels.

Too much of criminality and fraudulent activities have happened in the administration of soccer in Nigeria. 

It is time for all stakeholders to work towards restoring financial discipline in the running of sports in all aspects so that our sporting talents who are groomed and picked to represent Nigeria at regional or international levels are properly cared for and not treated like orphans.

The sports and youth development minister has promised to look beyond the known routines and to explore other innovative ways of developing the youths. This is a good step. How to do that is for his office to stop the interferences of the central and state governments in the elections into the different youth-led bodies because right now, those heading the National council of youths are mere “house boys” of politicians.

The minister needs to map out strategies for skill and vocational trainings of Nigerian youths so as to engage them in meaningful activities and keep them away from crimes. The ministry should work constructively with all the relevant social protection agencies in both the private and public sectors to fully develop the youths and keep them away from cybercrimes. He is lucky to have a Director General in the National Youths Service Scheme (NYSC) who is a square peg in a square hole going by his public pronouncements and actions. The NYSC is a critical factor in the skills empowerment of Youths and these agenda in the NYSC must be sustained and broadened.  

These are the expectations of most Nigerians. 

Watching the way hundreds of youths embark on risky journeys through the Mediterranean seas to search for greener pastures and to run away from the widespread insecurity in Nigeria, should worry the new minister. 

His job is surely cut out for him. 

There is no time for frivolities, surely. The ball is on his court. 

*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com,www.huriwa.blogspot.com,www.thenigerianinsidermews.com. 

Imo and infrastructural emergency

By Emmanuel Onwubiko

On Sunday this week, I boarded the Air Peace airline to Owerri, the Imo state capital for a singular reason of personally witnessing the beginning of the remaking of history in the Eastern heartland which has only recently come out of a whooping eight years of desolation and crass bad governance by the immediate past governor – Mr. Rochas Okorocha.

This remaking of history in my state of birth was the official flag off of the World Bank’s assisted rural roads infrastructure which took place incidentally from Umuduru market which will cover my home town of Arondizuogu located in Onu-Imo local government area council.

While on board, I sat few places away from and infact next to the newly sworn in governor of Imo state Mr. Emeka Ihedioha who was also travelling back to Owerri apparently from an official tour in the nation’s capital or somewhere nearby.  

The governor came in to the aircraft with about half a dozen personal staff and his beautiful daughter just as one of his top private officials sat just next to me.

This proximity afforded yours faithfully the opportunity of exchanging few words regarding the planned flag off of this rural road infrastructure. 

I also had about five minutes conversations with the governor whereupon I applauded him for remembering my hometown which has faced horrendous ordeals of infrastructural deficit over the past decades from virtually all the previous governors of the state. 

Arondizuogu suffers from multiple deficiencies of social infrastructures and the worst case scenario of marginalization of unfathomable scale even as the few signs of civilization such as electricity and graded rural roads were done as a result of communal and/or individual efforts.

For instance, the only source of intermittent electricity power to most parts of Arondizuogu in Onu-Imo local government was donated by a single individual who is also reputed to have singlehandedly constructed some culverts and rural roads beginning from his immediate community in a part of Arondizuogu located within Onu-Imo LGA. It must be noted too that Arondizuogu traverses Okigwe and Ideato North local government area councils. 

In effect, our people are amongst those who feel the pains of a failed administration under Rochas Okorocha whose long stay in office was characterized by predatory diversion of public fund to God knows where and who appeared to have spent more time in the media spreading falsehood and outright cheap propaganda about some fantastic feats he achieved as governor which are not in existence anywhere in Imo state which today appears like the ruined segments of the war torn Syria. 

My readers can now understand my overwhelming enthusiasm to read that the Imo state governor has remembered a long forgotten part of the state and has indeed scheduled the flag off of the World Bank’s partly funded rural roads which incidentally has only happened because the now governor paid the counterpart  fund which Rochas Okorocha failed to do.

My trip to my state was therefore a labour of love for my hometown and to witness the beginning of history and to be able to pen down my thoughts independently and to charge governor Emeka Ihedioha to ensure that the flag off ceremony does not become the end of the dream of the long suffering people for imminent liberation from an absolute denial of social amenities by the state government. This is exactly what this article is set out to do- set agenda and to remind Emeka Ihedioha that we are monitoring his administration closely to see whether he will rebuild the devastated state from the debris of ruins left over by the failed governor Mr. Okorocha who miraculously maneuvered his way to the Senate to represent Orlu which is one of the places he destroyed by way of incompetence in office as governor for two terms. 

So on Tuesday this week, the governor arrived my hometown to begin the construction of this all important road infrastructure which if actualized, is capable of opening up many communities and helping rural farmers and dwellers to be able to connect with modernity and civilization and to enhance their economic activities.

As stated, i witnessed firsthand using my own resources to fly all the way to and fro to see as Governor Emeka Ihedioha flagged off the construction of rural road projects in Imo state which he estimated is worth N13.5billion - It include 380.7 kilometers of rural road across the 27 local government areas of the state.

I stood amongst the enthusiastic crowds in Umuduru near Arondizuogu, as the governor said he approved the swift payment of the counterpart fund to activate the project upon assumption of office. Incidentally, upon departing my hometown the entourage reportedly stopped over at Mbaitoli LGA for the same solemn occasion in which he read identical speech. 

Speaking at the flag off at Onuimo, Isu and Mbaitoli local government areas of the state, Governor Ihedioha assured the readiness of his administration to partner development agencies for the betterment of the state. 

The governor said he approved the swift payment of the counterpart fund to activate the project upon assumption of office. 

He also decried the poor states of roads in the state said the project will boost agriculture and socio-economic development in the state and reduce rural urban migration. 

His words: “As soon we assumed office, the RAMP project attracted our attention, and so came under review. Our task teams and committees analyzed the program and its processes, and being satisfied with its objectives, immediately ratified it, then provided the necessary approvals and directives therein including updating payments of counterpart funds. “As a state, and indeed as a person, we are particularly grateful to the two (2) institutions that have made today possible – The World Bank and the AFD (the French Development Bank). 

He continued: "As a policy of state, we will continue, as a matter of fact to intensify our engagements with the development partners and multi-lateral institutions, in order to leverage on their pedigree.” 

The governor revealed his administration's intention to revive the Imo Rural Roads Maintenance Agency (IRROMA), to ensure that no part of Imo state rural areas remained inaccessible due to bad roads. 

Hear him: “In order to ensure that beyond the construction of these projects, their continuous use is guaranteed, we will revive the State Road Maintenance Agency. This will ensure that our roads remain in satisfactory conditions even years after construction,” 

Governor Ihedioha said. He then assured that construction on the state's urban and major link roads will commerce in earnest. “Let me use this platform to say that in the next few days, massive constructions will commerce on Imo urban and major link roads. You will agree that we met a road network in a deplorable state of disrepair.

"We have painstakingly gone through the path of due process – from the design to the procurement. “We have involved the ministry of works, as never before, in the process. We want to deliver durable roads that will stand the test of time. Be assured, development will get to all parts of Imo state, no discrimination or exclusions,” he concluded. 

On his part, the senior special assistant to the governor on rural development, Richmond Osuji, said the state government approved the payment of 15% initial mobilization fund for the project.

He disclosed that the state government has mapped out fund to compensate owners of properties that will be affected in the course of the project. Osuji also promised that the Bureau for Rural Development will ensure the compliance of the contractors with the technical specification, budget and timeline for the completion of the projects. Another bad development left behind by Rochas Okorocha is the lack of good sanitation. The Imo state governor has disclosed that he will attend to the urgent need to make Imo clean and green again. 

Governor Ihedioha had said his administration is determined to make Imo, the cleanest state in the federation.

The governor, who spoke at the Government House, Owerri, on Wednesday, July 17 during the inauguration of the panning, sensitization and implementation committee for the July, 2019 clean-up exercise, said the health of the state's citizens was threatened by unhealthy environment. He said that between 2008 and 2011, the state was adjudged the cleanest in the country by the federal ministry of environment, lamenting that in the past 8 years, the state had become one of the dirtiest.

The journey  to and fro my state took me four days and within this period, the traditional rulers drawn from all parts of the state met and endorsed the decision of both the Imo state government and the state’s legislature to investigate why the entire state has become such a destroyed habitation even as infrastructures require emergency to fix.

The Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers said they are in full support of Gov. Emeka Ihedioha’s plan to probe the administration of former Gov. Rochas Okorocha.

Available information i got states that the Chairman of the council, Eze Samuel Ohiri, disclosed this to newsmen on Wednesday, at the end of an emergency meeting of the council where the resolution was taken.

He said that after a critical examination of the situation of Imo, the council deemed it imperative that Okorocha must be probed.

Ohiri said the latest discovery that Okorocha allegedly spent N10 billion to build police headquarters called for serious probe.

He said, “After the emergency meeting of all the traditional rulers, we resolved to encourage Ihedioha to ensure that all the government properties illegally acquired by the former governor and his cronies were recovered to Imo.

“We also want to use this opportunity to call on the Inspector General of Police to return the money used in building the police headquarters,” he said.

He said that “Imo does not have money to spend on Federal Government’s project,” adding that “FG is supposed to show its presence in Imo, not Imo building projects for FG.”

The royal father also admonished Okorocha, representing Imo West Senatorial District, to stop inciting his supporters to cause trouble in the state.

“Okorocha has finished his tenure as governor and we are calling on him to allow Ihedioha to govern the state without distractions,” he added.

This visit I must state is revealing. The current Imo state governor must note that So much is expected from him so he has to spend quality times inside the state and reduce the tendency to embark on frivolous foreign trips which is one way most governors lavish the resources of their states in the guise of chasing for foreign direct investments.  Imo state needs an ever present competent administrator to turn around the devastated State. 

*Emmanuel Onwubiko heads HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) and blogs @www.emmanuelonwubiko.com,www.huriwa.blogspot.com,www.thenigerianinsidermews.com.  

SOWORE: HURIWA CONDEMNS PROLONGED DETENTION OF ACTIVIST BY DSS:..... *SAYS courts may have been impeded to exercise independence:

A prominent pro-democracy and civil Rights advocacy group- HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA) has condemned the Federal High Court of Nigeria over the prolonged detention of Citizen Omoyele  SOWORE just as the Rights group said the Courts may have succumbed to the avalanche of psychological warfare using the anti-graft bodies and security forces by the central government to diminish and cripple the constitutional independence of the judiciary.

HURIWA said there is no possible justifiable reason for the untold psychological and physical torture being faced by the publisher of Saharareporters.com Mr. Omoyele SOWORE only because he is alleged to have masterminded a peaceful and constructive civil Rights action they decided to call REVOLUTIONNOW. 

HURIWA said the detention of the activist alongside many other protesters rounded up all across Nigeria following a brutal crackdown by armed police operatives is a grave set back which has adversely affected the enjoyment of the constitutionally guaranteed freedoms enshrined in various international and local statutes just as the Rights group absolutely condemned the cowardice of the Courts to continuously deny bail to the Nigerian citizen even when the exercise of bail is at the discretion of the judges and not subject to the whims and caprices of a fast emerging dictatorship in Abuja Nigeria.

HURIWA recalled that in early August the presidential candidate of African Action Congress (AAC) Omoyele Sowore was arrested by Operatives of the Department of State Services in a commando styled operation staged in the wee hours of the night which was akin to the operational mode of armed kidnappers.

Sowore also a renowned human rights activist and online blogger, pro-democracy campaigner, founder of online news agency Sahara Reporters was arrested in the wee hours of Saturday morning at his home.

HURIWA  recalled that  the African Action Congress (AAC) had declared 5th August for the commencement of revolution protest tagged ‘ Days of Rage’ across the country to demand a better Nigeria but the main organizer Mr. Sowore was picked up on August 3rd and has remained in detention of the DSS since then.

HURIWA recalled too that Mr. Omoyele Sowore, disclosed recently in Abuja at the end of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that the protest would be sustained until the country is put on the right path of honour where justice prevails.

His words,” Election was an opportunity to carry out a revolution of ballot box but they stole the ballot box. They hijacked materials that were meant for a free and fair election and as a result, they did not organise any election that was credible enough for people to have faith in the ballot box.”

Sowore also stated the democratic objective of the civil action thus:  “The revolution has, therefore, become inevitable. We didn’t choose to go for revolution; they chose it by ensuring that there was no level playing field".

However, HURIWA affirmed that clear five days after making the public announcement, he was whisked away into detention the DSS produced him in Court just as the federal high court sitting in Abuja unfortunately granted the Department of State Service (DSS) the permission to detain the convener of #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, for 45 days.

HURIWA recalled that the judge, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, ruled that the detention order is renewable after the expiration of the first 45 days on September 21.

HURIWA recalled that   the DSS  filed an ex-parte application to keep Sowore for 90 days to investigate him over his call for revolution through the #RevolutionNow protests which held in some parts of the country on Monday, August 5.

HURIWA recalled that Justice Taiwo, said he had to grant the application, “only to the extent” of allowing the security agency to keep the respondent in custody for only 45 days for the applicant to conclude its investigation. 

Again, HURIWA stated that on August 28th the Federal High Court declined to hear Sowore's bail application.

Justice Nkweonye Maha said she did not have the jurisdiction to review the decision by Justice Taiwo Taiwo. She noted that the ruling of the vacation judge stated the matter would be heard on September 21.

The judge said she had no authority to proceed or review the judgment of her colleagues and that she would like to preserve the order of the court.

HURIWA citing available information said that in his argument Sowore's lawyer, Femi Falana, argued that in line with order 26 of the federal high court procedure stated that anybody who is affected by an ex parte order can approach the same court to set aside such order. See ONOGORUWA VS IGP.

He Barrister Falana submitted that Sowore's application was bordered on a violation of human rights and the judge (Maha) had the right to hear and review the previous order.

Falana said the judge would do justice to the case by hearing it, adding that the applicant was unnecessarily being punished in detention. He, therefore, made an oral application for bail of the applicant.

But the judge held that the matter be referred to the vacation judge and said that there was nothing before her to grant the bail application.

HURIWA however has dismissed the decisions of the two judges of the Federal High Court as acts of cowardice and that their refusal to exercise their discretionary powers of bail has undermined constitutional democracy.

In a statement by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA stated as follows: "The right to bail is intrinsic to the fundamental rights to personal liberty and presumption of innocence provided under sections 35(1) and 36 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (CFRN) 1999 (as amended).

This right to personal liberty was underscored by the Court of Appeal per Ogundare JCA (as then was) in the case of COMPTOLLER OF NIGERIAN PRISONS V. ADEKANYE (1999) 10 NWLR (PT.623) 400, 426-427, Paras.G-B in the following words:

“Freedom is no doubt the greatest gift or heritage of man. Omnipotence created man and accorded him with divine freedom. Men are born free with liberty to think what he will, to say what he will and go to where he likes, all in a lawful manner, without let or hindrance from any other persons, private or governmental authorities.  It therefore follows that, generally, detention of a man is a violation of the law of God and man. I am not oblivious of the fact that there are checks and balances to the series of freedom given to man. To the extent to which a man must not do his things in a way calculated to injure or adversely affect the exercise of the freedom of another man, his freedom is limited.

Bail can be administrative. In this regard section 35(4) of the CFRN states that a person who is arrested is arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction within a reasonable time.  By section 35(5)(a)CFRN a person must either be granted bail within one day if the arrest or detention is at a place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of forty kilometers. However by section 35(5)(b) where there is no court within the specification, the person is entitled to bail within two days or such long longer period as the court deems reasonable. Thus once there is a court within forty kilometers radius and the offence is bailable, a person must either be charged to court as such or granted bail within one day. Again, even where there is no court within the specification, a person is cannot be held for more than two days except there is a court order to that effect.

Besides administrative bail, there is court bail. It has been held in a plethora of authorizes including the case of Dogo v. Commissioner for Police (1980)1 NCR 14 at 19, Paras.10-15 that the primary consideration of the Court in granting bail is whether the Defendant will be available to stand his trial and that if the court is assured of that, bail should not be refused to punish the Defendant who still enjoys the privilege of the presumption of innocence. In the case of Danbaba v. State (2000) 14 NWLR (Pt.687) 396, the court held that conditions attached to grant of bail must not be suffocating, unbearable, unworkable and unduly burdensome.

Court bail may either be on a fundamental right application or application at criminal trial. The former is provided under Order 4 Rule 3 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 which provides thus:

“The Court may, if satisfied that exceptional hardship may be caused to the Applicant before the service of the application especially when the life or liberty of the applicant is involved, hear the applicant ex parte upon such interim reliefs as the justice of the application may demand.”

In hearing the ex-parte application, the court has discretion under Order 4 Rule 4(c) to “Grant bail or order release of the Applicant forthwith from detention pending the determination of the application”.

A lot of judges are yet to appreciate the foregoing provisions. They outrightly refuse any application for the grant of bail of an applicant on the excuse that such a person has not been charged for a criminal offence before them.  A person can be granted bail or released from detention on an application for the enforcement of his fundamental right. Bail does necessarily attach to a particular form of judicial procedure or proceedings but the liberty and freedom of an innocent person.

In the light of the latter, criminal charge does not derogate from the fundamental right of a person as if to pre-judge and condemn an otherwise innocent person. Following the CFRN, section 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 (ACJA) provides that anyone charged with criminal offence is entitled to bail.

By the provisions of ACJA, offences are grouped into three (3) categories for the purposes of bail pending trial. The first category is capital offence under section 161 where the Defendant is generally not entitled to bail except by the High Court under special circumstances like: (a) ill health of the applicant which shall be confirmed and certified by a qualified medical practitioner employed in a Government hospital, provided that the suspect is able to prove that there are no medical facilities to take care of his illness by the authority detaining him; (b) extraordinary delay in the investigation, arraignment and prosecution for a period exceeding one year; or (c) any other circumstances that the Judge may, in the particular facts of the case, consider exceptional. And although only a High Court can grant bail under this head, the application may be orally or in writing by virtue of section 32(3) of ACJA notwithstanding it is before a court of record which ordinarily requires a formally filed application.

The circumstances for grant of bail in capital offence cases were equally stated by the Court in the case of Bolakale vs. State (2006) 1 NWLR (Pt.962) 507 at 518, Para B per Muntaka-Coomassie, JCA.

The second category relates to offences carrying a sentence exceeding three (3) years under section 162. Here the Defendant is entitled to grant of bail by the court except certain facts are proved to exist.  The section provides thus:

"A defendant charged with an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding three years SHALL on application to the Court, be released on bail except in any of the following circumstances:

(a) where there is reasonable ground to believe that the defendant will, where released on bail, commit another offence;

(b) attempt to evade his trial;

(c) attempt to influence, interfere with, intimidate witnesses, and or interfere in the investigation of the case;

(d) attempt to conceal or destroy evidence;

(e) prejudice the proper investigation of the offence; or

(f) undermine or jeopardize the objectives or the purpose or the functioning of the criminal justice administration, including the bail system."

While considering section 162 of the ACJA in the case of Abednego Ogede vs Federal Republic o Nigeria (2018) LPELR-46816(CA) the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division held thus:

“It is obvious that the above provision was framed in mandatory language to the effect that the trial Court has no discretion when considering an application for bail when the accused person was charged with an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding three years. Unless it is shown that the circumstances in Section 162 (a) to (f) are shown to exist, a Court is bound to grant bail to an accused. It is important to note that legislature has by the provision of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act,2015, Section 162 thereof, codified the criteria to be considered in granting or refusing bail, which has been expressed in several decisions of the Apex Court including BAMAIYI v STATE [2001] 8 NWLR (PT. 715) 270; ABACHA v STATE [2002] 5 NWLR (PT. 761) 638; SULEMAN & ANOR v COP., PLATEAU STATE [2008] 8 NWLR (PT. 1089) 298. But it must be said that by Section 162 ACJA, the only circumstances upon which a Court can refuse to admit an accused person to bail are those stated in paragraph (a) to (f) thereof. The provision admits of no discretion in matter it provides for.”

In the case the 3rd Defendant was charged with an offence which penalty on conviction is life imprisonment, the Court held the refusal of the trial court to grant him bail to be wrongful not being an offence covered by section 161 of ACJA.

The third category deals with offences carrying a maxim sentence of three (3) years and below under section 163 of ACJA which the court would most naturally grant bail.

Bail may still be granted pending appeal after the conviction and sentence of a Defendant.

However bail can be cancelled at the instance of the Attorney General of the Federation under section 169 of the ACJA. Where a defendant has been admitted to bail and circumstances arise which, in the opinion of the Attorney-General of the Federation would justify the court in cancelling the bail or requiring a greater amount, a court may, on application being made by the Attorney-General of the Federation, issue a warrant for the arrest of the defendant and, after giving the defendant an opportunity of being heard, may commit him to prison to await trial, or admit him to bail for the same or an increased amount."