Court Rejects Bail Application for Importers of Small Arms

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Court Rejects Bail Application for Importers of Small Arms

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A Federal High Court in the Lagos Division on Thursday has turned down the application for bail written in favour of four accused persons who are undergoing trial for unlawful importation of small arms into the country.The unlawful arm importation has a total of 661 pump action rifles.Ruling on the case, Justice Ayotunde Faji, held that his court would speed up the trial instead of granting the accused bail owing to the gravity of the allegation involved.The four accused are Mahmud Hassan, Oscar Okafor, Donatus Achinulo, and Salihu Danjuma, who were charged on June 14 on an eight-count charge relating to conspiracy, importation of prohibited firearms, forgery, uttering of forged documents and bribery. One Matthew Okoye, yet to be accounted for, was also named in the arms deal.All the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.The accused had on Monday requested for a bail before the determination of the matter.The legal team of counsels for the accused are Yakubu Galadima, Godwin Okaka, Olumide Oyewole and Adamu Ibrahim. They persuaded the court to release their clients on bail, on the ground that they would be presented in court when the need arises.Prosecuting counsel, K. A. Fagbemi, who is also a lawyer from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, objected that such move would be a step in the wrong direction to have the accused released on bail.From his point of view, Mr Fagbemi said that since one of the accused, Okoye, is still in hiding, it could jeopardize the safety of others if released on bail.“He’s still out there. He could be a risk to their own lives. It’s one of the grounds that the defendants should not be granted bail for their own good,” he said.

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