A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting at Gwarinpa has deferred till Thursday ruling on an application the former Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, filed to be released on bail, pending the determination of the eight-count corruption charge the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, preferred against him.
Trial Justice Maryam Hassan adjourned to rule on the matter after she took arguments from both the defence and the prosecution counsel.
Ngige, who was in office as a minister from November 11, 2015, to May 29, 2023, was arraigned before the court over his alleged complicity in contract fraud totaling over N2.2 billion.
Though he pleaded not guilty to the charge after he was arraigned before the court last Friday, the trial judge ordered his remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja, pending the determination of his bail application.
Part of the charge against him bordered on abuse of office, as well as an allegation that he accepted kickbacks from firms that were awarded contracts by the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF.
It was alleged that he used his position to confer unfair advantage to his associates by awarding contracts to their companies.
The defendant, by his action, was said to have committed offences punishable under various sections of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
The anti-graft agency had, through its team of lawyers led by Mr. Sylvanus Tahir, SAN, urged the court to refuse the defendant’s request for bail.
The prosecution counsel alleged that the ex-minister violated an administrative bail the Commission earlier granted to him, stressing that he refused to return his international passport after he was permitted to travel abroad in October for a medical checkup.
The EFCC further drew the attention of the court to the weight of the charge, which it said would attract nothing less than a five-year prison term if the defendant is convicted.
However, the defence lawyer, Mr. Patrick Ikwueto, SAN, prayed the court to release his client on bail pending the hearing and determination of the case against him.
Ikwueto, SAN, lamented that the defendant had already spent three days in the custody of the EFCC before he was produced before the court for arraignment.
“The issue of whether he will be granted bail or not is a right in our Constitution. The defendant is not an unknown person in this country.
“I don’t think there is anybody in this country who will say they don’t know the defendant. Even from the charge, it was stated that he was a minister of this country.
“I urge your lordship to grant the defendant bail, and we are ready to fulfil any requirement your lordship will put as a condition for his bail,” Ikwueto, SAN, begged.
He told the court that the defendant was not in good health, adding that the prison lacked the facilities to take care of his medical needs.
Moreover, the defence lawyer argued that the charge was not such that it could attract capital punishment upon conviction, describing all the allegations against his client as bailable offences.
“It is not like they are alleging that he ate the ministry’s money or that of NSITF. The trial will start, and we will see how those contracts were awarded. It is not a terrorism charge or treasonable offence,” Ikwueto, SAN, insisted.
EFCC had, in the charge before the court, alleged that the former minister used his position to confer an unfair advantage on a firm—Cezimo Nigeria Limited—which was linked to his associate, by approving seven NSITF consultancy, training, and supply contracts worth N366,470,920.68, an offence punishable under Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
It is alleged that between September 2015 to May 2023, the defendant also awarded eight NSITF contracts worth N583,682,686 to Zitacom Nigeria Limited, a company whose MD/CEO and alter ego, Ezebinwa Amarachukwu Charles, is his associate.
