A Kogi State High Court sitting in Lokoja on Monday adjourned till May 10 to continue hearing in the bail application of Senator Dino Melaye filed by his Counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN).
Chief Judge of Kogi State, Justice Nasiru Ajanah, who is also the presiding judge had last Friday adjourned the case till Monday to entertain the arguments on the bail application filed by Melaye’s counsel, Mike Ozekhome (SAN).
When the case came up on Monday, counsel to the defendant drew the attention of the court to a counter-affidavit filed by prosecuting counsel, Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN) raising fresh issues which he needed to respond to before the matter can go ahead.
The judge therefore adjourned the matter till May 10 to entertain the arguments on motion for bail of the lawmaker alongside the fresh affidavits filed before the court by both parties.
Addressing journalists after the court sitting, counsel to the defendant, Mike Ozekhome said he needed to respond to the issues raised by prosecution in the counter affidavit adducing why the lawmaker should be refused bail by the court.
“In their counter-affidavit, they were raising this issue that Melaye is a kind of person that had jumped out of a moving bus when they were taking him to Lokoja.
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“What we have done is to counter that to say that the Police had told him he was being taken to an FCT High Court to be arraigned only for them to suddenly veer off going to Lokoja and that according to Melaye, while they were in the vehicle going to Lokoja at the Area 1 intersection round about, the police tear gassed him two times when he protested as to why they were now taking him to Lokoja instead of Abuja in FCT.
“They tear gassed him twice and as soon as the car came to a stand-still at the roundabout, he (Melaye) forced open the bus door and jumped down because he was now gasping for breath so that he would not suffocate and the video went viral that they want to kill him by taking him to Lokoja”, he saidÂ
He said sympathizers and boys who gathered including Melaye’s lawyers took him to Zankli Hospital, adding that “it was from the Zankli hospital that the police again came and bundled him to the National Hospital Abuja where they chained him to the bed like a common criminal.”
“So, the question is if someone were to escape from justice, would he be in the hospital. So we have to counter this false allegation.
“The National Hospital that the Chief Judge said he should be taken to made two recommendations – that this man is an asthmatic patient and has serious spinal cord injury and that he needs to come back on May 9 for further examination”, he said.
Ozekhome pointed out that the national passport and travelling documents of Melaye have already been deposited with the court and there was no way Melaye could jump bail if granted.
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