Ladipo Sanusi
Justice Ayotunde Faji of a Federal High Court, Lagos, on Thursday, rejected the bail applications filed by four men accused of illegally importing 661 pump-action rifles into the country.
Justice Faji said he would rather grant the case accelerated hearing, in view of the severity of the allegations levelled against the accused persons.
The accused persons are, Mahmud Hassan, Oscar Okafor, Donatus Achinulo and Salihu Danjuma.
They had jointly applied to the court, on Monday, to be released on bail pending the determination of the case.
Counsels to the accused persons: Yakubu Galadima, Godwin Okaka, Olumide Oyewole and Adamu Ibrahim, had urged the court to release their clients on bail, promising that they would make themselves available for trial.
But the prosecuting counsel from the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), K. A. Fagbemi, opposed the defendants’ bail applications, saying it would be too risky to release them on bail.
Fagbemi noted that a fifth suspect, Matthew Okoye, is still at large, while arguing further that the lives of the accused persons might also be at risk.
“The fifth suspect is still out there. He could be a risk to their lives. It’s one of the grounds that the defendants should not be granted bail. It is for their own good,” Fagbemi said.
Justice Faji said he was in total agreement with the prosecution’s submission and consequently, refused the defendants’ bail applications.
They were arraigned on June 14, on an eight counts charge bordering on conspiracy, importation of prohibited firearms, forgery and bribery.
In the charge, the AGF said the accused persons brought 661 pump-action rifles into the country from Turkey through the Apapa Port, Lagos, using a 40-feet container, which they falsely claimed contained steel doors.
To facilitate the illegal importation, the accused allegedly forged a number of documents including a bill of lading, a Form M and a Pre-Arrival Assessment Report.
According to the prosecution, in order to evade payment of Customs duty, the accused allegedly forged a bill of lading issued at Istanbul on January 9, 2017, falsely claiming that it was issued at Shanghai, China.
They were also alleged to have offered a bribe of N400,000 to an official of the Nigeria Customs Service attached to the Federal Operations Unit to influence the said officer not to conduct a “100 percent search on the 40-feet container with number PONU 825914/3”.
The prosecution further alleged that the first accused, Hassan, corruptly gave N1m to government officials at the Apapa Port in order to prevent the search of the container by Customs officials.
In the last count, the Federal Government alleged that the defendants had, between 2012 and 2016, illegally imported several double-barreled shotguns, pump-action rifles and single-barreled shotguns into the country through Lagos.
The offences were said to be contrary to sections 1(2)(c), 1(14) (a)(i) and 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2014.
All the accused persons had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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